Beam steering with pulsed two-dimensional transducer arrays

TLDR

2‑D ultrasound arrays face a major challenge: the complexity of managing the large number of elements required for imaging. This study theoretically investigates pulsed 2‑D array focusing and steering to determine key imaging parameters such as element size, spacing, and count. The authors use computational modeling to analyze beam properties of wideband 2‑D arrays, examining apodization, element cross‑coupling, and sparse random‑distribution designs.

Abstract

The major problem facing the development of 2-D arrays for imaging is the complexity arising from the large number of elements anticipated in such transducers. The authors have undertaken a theoretical investigation of the focusing and steering properties of pulsed 2-D arrays to characterize the parameters required for medical imaging, such as element size, spacing, and number of elements. Details of the computational methods employed are presented, as well as a discussion of the steered beam properties of wideband 2-D arrays. The effects of apodization and element cross-coupling on the beam properties of a 2-D transducer array are examined. The beam properties of various sparse arrays with elements randomly distributed over the aperture of the transducer are discussed.