Optimized Virtual Sources Distributions for 3-D Ultrafast Diverging Wave Compounding Imaging: A Simulation Study.

Ultrafast ultrasound imaging allows observing rapid phenomena; combined with 3-D imaging it has the potential to provide a more accurate analysis of organs which leads, in the end, to better diagnosis. Coherent compounding using diverging waves is commonly used to reconstruct high-quality images on large volumes while keeping the frame rate high enough to allow dynamic analysis. In practice, the virtual sources (VSs) that drive the diverging waves are often distributed in a deterministic way: following a regular grid, concentric rings, and spirals. Even though those deterministic distributions can offer various tradeoffs in terms of imaging performance, other distributions can be considered to improve imaging performance. It is herein suggested to look at alternative VSs distributions for optimizing the lateral resolution and the secondary lobes level (SLL) on several point spread functions (PSFs) by means of a multiobjective genetic algorithm. The optimization framework has led to seven pseudo-irregular distributions of VSs distributions that have not yet been found in the literature. An analysis of the imaging performance with a simulated phantom shows that these new distributions offer different tradeoffs between lateral resolution and contrast, respectively, measured on point-like reflectors and anechoic cysts. As an example, one of these optimized distributions improves the lateral resolution by 16% and gives equivalent contrast values on cysts and PSF isotropy properties, when compared to a concentric-rings-based distribution.

Real-time ultrasound phase imaging.

The Correlation-Based (CB) imaging method is characterized by its high spatial resolution capabilities, but it is known to require heavy computational resources due to its high complexity. This paper shows that the CB imaging method can be used to estimate the phase of the complex reflection coefficients contained in the observation window. The resulting Correlation-Based Phase Imaging (CBPI) method can be used to segment and identify different features or tissue elasticity variations in a given medium. A Numerical validation is first proposed by considering a set of fifteen point-like scatterers on a Verasonics Simulator. Then, three experimental datasets are used to show the potential of CBPI on scatterers and specular reflectors. In vitro imaging results are first presented to show that CBPI allows retrieving phase information on hyperechoic reflectors, but also on weak reflectors such as elasticity targets. It is demonstrated that CBPI helps distinguishing regions of different elasticity, but of same low-contrast echogenicity, which is otherwise impossible with standard B-mode or Synthetic Aperture Focusing Techniques (SAFT). Then, CBPI of a needle in an ex vivo chicken breast is performed to show that the method works on specular reflectors. It is shown that the phase of the different interfaces associated to the first wall of the needle are well reconstructed using CBPI. The heterogeneous architecture used to enable real-time CBPI is presented. A Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is used to process the real-time acquired signals from a Verasonics Vantage 128 research echograph. Frame rates of 18 frames per second are achieved for the whole acquisition and signal processing chain on standard a 500 × 200 pixels grid.

Influence of Plastination on Ultrasound Transmission Through the Human Skull.

Development, optimization and validation of transcranial ultrasound methods require the use of fresh human or animal skulls. However, to avoid fresh skull degradation over time, fixation methods are required for conservation, such as formaldehyde buffer solution. This method allows for conservation of the skull properties over a relatively long period, but requires specific conditioning (de-gassing) and storage conditions, such that its practical use is limited. Plastination appears to be a unique solution for the preservation and transportation of body parts without constraints. However, the influence of this conservation process has yet to be characterized with respect to ultrasound transmission to verify that the acoustic and mechanical properties of the skulls are not altered by the plastination process. The objective of the study described here was to quantify the effect of plastination on ultrasound transmission through the temporal and parietal areas of the human skull between 200 kHz and 2 MHz. To achieve this, transmission measurements were performed on three different skulls and four areas before and after plastination. It was found that the plastination process results in a transmission loss of 5 dB. Moreover, results indicate that the plastination process does not induce any phase shift in the transmitted signal, validating the proper use of plastinated skulls for in vitro measurements and development of new transcranial ultrasound methods.

Machine Learning for Touch Localization on an Ultrasonic Lamb Wave Touchscreen.

Classification and regression employing a simple Deep Neural Network (DNN) are investigated to perform touch localization on a tactile surface using ultrasonic guided waves. A robotic finger first simulates the touch action and captures the data to train a model. The model is then validated with data from experiments conducted with human fingers. The localization root mean square errors (RMSE) in time and frequency domains are presented. The proposed method provides satisfactory localization results for most human-machine interactions, with a mean error of 0.47 cm and standard deviation of 0.18 cm and a computing time of 0.44 ms. The classification approach is also adapted to identify touches on an access control keypad layout, which leads to an accuracy of 97% with a computing time of 0.28 ms. These results demonstrate that DNN-based methods are a viable alternative to signal processing-based approaches for accurate and robust touch localization using ultrasonic guided waves.

Time domain imaging of extended transient noise sources using phase coherence.

An acoustic imaging algorithm is proposed herein for transient noise source time reconstruction. Time domain formulations are not well suited for acoustic imaging because of the size of the resulting system to be inversed. Based on the phase coherence principle widely used in ultrasound imaging and image processing, the first step of the algorithm consists in proposing the phase coherence metric used to reject pixels that are unlikely to contribute to the radiated sound field. This translates in a reduction of the domain size and ill-posedness of the problem. In the second step, the inverse problem is solved using the Tikhonov regularization and the generalized cross-validation to extract the vibration field on the imaging domain. Two test cases are considered: a simulated baffled piston and a panel submitted to a mechanical impact in anechoic conditions. The actual vibration field of the panel is measured with an optical technique for reference. In both numerical and experimental cases, the reconstructed vibration field using the proposed approach compares well with their respective reference. The results confirm that transient excitations can be localized and quantified with the proposed approach, in contrast with the classical time-domain beamforming that dramatically overestimates its magnitude.

On the Potential of Hydrogen-Powered Hydraulic Pumps for Soft Robotics.

To perform untethered operations, soft robots require mesoscale power units (10-1000 W) with high energy densities. In this perspective, air-breathing combustion offers an interesting alternative to battery-powered systems, provided sufficient overall energy conversion efficiency can be reached. Implementing efficient air-breathing combustion in mesoscale soft robots is notoriously difficult, however, as it requires optimization of very small combustion actuators and simultaneous minimization of fluidic (e.g., hydraulic) losses, which are both inversely impacted by actuations speeds. To overcome such challenges, this article proposes and evaluates the potential of hydrogen-powered, hydraulic free-piston pump architecture. Experimental data, taken from two combustion-driven prototypes, reveal (1) the fundamental role of using hydrogen as the source of fuel to reduce heat losses, (2) the significant impact of compression ratio, equivalence ratio, and surface-to-volume ratio on energy conversion efficiency, and (3) the importance of load matching between combustion and fluidic transmission. In this work, a small-bore combustion actuator demonstrated a 20% efficiency and a net mean output power of 26 W, while a big-bore combustion actuator reached a substantially higher efficiency of 35% and a net mean output power of 197 W. Using the small-bore combustion actuator, the hydrogen-powered, hydraulic free-piston pump provided a 4.6% overall efficiency for a 2.34 W net mean output power, thus underlying the potential of the approach for mesoscale soft robotic applications.

Guided wave scattering by geometrical change or damage: Application to characterization of fatigue crack and machined notch.

Validation of guided-wave based systems for Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) under realistic conditions or environment requires complex setups. For this purpose, numerical or theoretical approaches are useful to save time and cost associated with experiential tests. However, the interaction with realistic geometrical (rivets, thickness changes, stiffeners, extrusions) or damage features (fatigue cracks, fillet cracks, delaminations, disbonds) must be accurately captured in order to be representative. In this paper, an experimental methodology is presented for estimating the far-field scattering of geometrical or damage features. The principle is based on the use of a Hankel transform of the measured 3D velocity field in order to evaluate with precision and repeatability the scattered pattern using a spatially averaged method. Application to scattering of a hole with simulated machined and real fatigue cracks is proposed. It is observed that the simulated machined crack generally used as a reference standard can only model accurately the transmission behaviour while the scattering patterns are only similar when the wavelength is about the size of the crack, limiting the practical use of machined cracks for experimental validation of SHM or NDE systems.

Correlation-based imaging technique using ultrasonic transmit-receive array for Non-Destructive Evaluation.

This paper describes a novel array post-processing method for Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) using phased-array ultrasonic probes. The approach uses the capture and processing of the full matrix of all transmit-receive time-domain signals from a transducer array as in the case of the Total Focusing Method (TFM), referred as the standard of imaging algorithms. The proposed technique is based on correlation of measured signals with theoretical propagated signals computed over a given grid of points. In that case, real-time imaging can be simply implemented using discrete signal product. The advantage of the present technique is to take into account transducer directivity, dynamics and complex propagation patterns, such that the number of required array elements for a given imaging performance can be greatly reduced. Numerical and experimental application to contact inspection of isotropic structure is presented and real-time implementation issues are discussed.

Broadband generation of ultrasonic guided waves using piezoceramics and sub-band decomposition.

Classically, damage detection or dispersion curve determination using piezoceramic-generated guided waves has been based on analysis of propagation properties of multiple narrowband excitation signals. However, dispersion and multimodal propagation impair the determination of propagation properties. More recently, it has been proposed to consider broadband excitations for both damage imaging and group velocity estimation. Among existing transducer technologies, although laser excitation is prone to practical limitations in terms of dimensions and generated amplitudes, it allows generation of noncontact, point-like broadband displacement. Thus, broadband generation of guided waves using piezoceramics can be envisioned. However, direct impulse response measurements are limited by the generated amplitude, leading to low SNR measurements. For this purpose, chirp excitations have been proposed using variable-frequency bursts, leading to phase and amplitude variations with respect to the frequency, such that this approach is not suitable for precise estimation of time of flight (ToF) or modal amplitude. In this paper, a sub-band decomposition technique that allows high-SNR measurements of impulse response in a given frequency range is proposed. Broadband excitation is decomposed over a given number of frequency sub-bands, generated by a piezoceramic element and measurement is performed using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) or a piezoceramic sensor. Application to experimental estimation of group velocity and damage detection in pitchcatch configuration is proposed. It is shown that the proposed method allows damage estimation without a priori knowledge of the damage size, whereas narrowband techniques can fail at specific wavelengths.