Pub Date : 2024-09-03DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3453432
Chin-Yu Chang;Ya-Ching Yu;Zhi-Qiang Lee;Ming-Huang Li
In this work, we investigate, for the first time, a low phase noise and wide tuning range voltage-controlled surface acoustic wave oscillator (VCSO) based on a lithium niobate on sapphire (LNOS) low-loss acoustic delay line (ADL). The thin-film LN/SiO2 bilayer acoustic waveguide, together with the single-phase unidirectional transducer (SPUDT) design, is key to attaining low insertion loss (IL) by enhancing energy confinement and directionality. Based on a high-performance ADL with an IL of only 5.2 dB, a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 5.38%, and a group delay of 110 ns, the VCSO is implemented by commercially available circuit components using a series-resonant topology. The LNOS ADL oscillator operates at 888 MHz, showcasing a low phase noise of −94.1 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset and a root-mean-square (rms) jitter of only 30.26 fs (integrated from 12 kHz to 20 MHz) while only consuming 16 mA of supply current. Featuring a wide frequency tuning range of 6630 ppm, the proposed VCSO is a promising low-noise, low-power, and high-frequency timing device for emerging applications.Index Terms— Acoustic delay line (ADL), jitter, lithium niobate (LN), oscillator, phase noise, surface acoustic wave (SAW), thin film.skiptabldblfloatfix
{"title":"A Voltage-Controlled Surface Acoustic Wave Oscillator Based on Lithium Niobate on Sapphire Low-Loss Acoustic Delay Line","authors":"Chin-Yu Chang;Ya-Ching Yu;Zhi-Qiang Lee;Ming-Huang Li","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3453432","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3453432","url":null,"abstract":"In this work, we investigate, for the first time, a low phase noise and wide tuning range voltage-controlled surface acoustic wave oscillator (VCSO) based on a lithium niobate on sapphire (LNOS) low-loss acoustic delay line (ADL). The thin-film LN/SiO2 bilayer acoustic waveguide, together with the single-phase unidirectional transducer (SPUDT) design, is key to attaining low insertion loss (IL) by enhancing energy confinement and directionality. Based on a high-performance ADL with an IL of only 5.2 dB, a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 5.38%, and a group delay of 110 ns, the VCSO is implemented by commercially available circuit components using a series-resonant topology. The LNOS ADL oscillator operates at 888 MHz, showcasing a low phase noise of −94.1 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset and a root-mean-square (rms) jitter of only 30.26 fs (integrated from 12 kHz to 20 MHz) while only consuming 16 mA of supply current. Featuring a wide frequency tuning range of 6630 ppm, the proposed VCSO is a promising low-noise, low-power, and high-frequency timing device for emerging applications.Index Terms— Acoustic delay line (ADL), jitter, lithium niobate (LN), oscillator, phase noise, surface acoustic wave (SAW), thin film.skiptabldblfloatfix","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1314-1323"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142125610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-02DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451986
Nanchao Wang;Junjie Yao
Photoacoustic imaging (PAI), also known as optoacoustic imaging, is a hybrid imaging modality that combines the rich contrast of optical imaging with the deep penetration of ultrasound (US) imaging. Over the past decade, PAI has been increasingly utilized in biomedical studies, providing high-resolution high-contrast images of endogenous and exogenous chromophores in various fundamental and clinical research. However, PAI faces challenges in achieving high imaging resolution and deep tissue penetration simultaneously, limited by the optical and acoustic interactions with tissues. Overcoming these limitations is crucial for maximizing the potential of PAI for biomedical applications. Recent advances in super-resolution (SR) PAI have opened new possibilities for achieving high imaging resolution at greater depths. This review provides a comprehensive summary of these promising strategies, highlights their representative applications, envisions the potential future directions, and discusses the broader impact on biomedical imaging.
光声成像（PAI）又称光声成像，是一种混合成像模式，它结合了光学成像的丰富对比度和超声成像的深度穿透性。在过去十年中，PAI 在生物医学研究中的应用日益广泛，为各种基础和临床研究提供了内源性和外源性发色团的高分辨率、高对比度图像。然而，受限于与组织的光学和声学相互作用，PAI 在同时实现高成像分辨率和深层组织穿透方面面临挑战。克服这些限制对于最大限度地发挥 PAI 在生物医学应用中的潜力至关重要。超分辨率 PAI 的最新进展为在更深的深度实现高成像分辨率提供了新的可能性。本综述全面总结了这些前景广阔的策略，重点介绍了它们的代表性应用，展望了未来的潜在发展方向，并讨论了它们对生物医学成像的广泛影响。
{"title":"Sound Out the Deep Clarity: Super-Resolution Photoacoustic Imaging at Depths","authors":"Nanchao Wang;Junjie Yao","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451986","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451986","url":null,"abstract":"Photoacoustic imaging (PAI), also known as optoacoustic imaging, is a hybrid imaging modality that combines the rich contrast of optical imaging with the deep penetration of ultrasound (US) imaging. Over the past decade, PAI has been increasingly utilized in biomedical studies, providing high-resolution high-contrast images of endogenous and exogenous chromophores in various fundamental and clinical research. However, PAI faces challenges in achieving high imaging resolution and deep tissue penetration simultaneously, limited by the optical and acoustic interactions with tissues. Overcoming these limitations is crucial for maximizing the potential of PAI for biomedical applications. Recent advances in super-resolution (SR) PAI have opened new possibilities for achieving high imaging resolution at greater depths. This review provides a comprehensive summary of these promising strategies, highlights their representative applications, envisions the potential future directions, and discusses the broader impact on biomedical imaging.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 12: Breaking the Resolution Barrier in Ultrasound","pages":"1801-1813"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142119710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Phase-change nanodroplets (PCNDs) are customizable and controllable theranostic agents of particular interest in extravascular therapies such as drug delivery and histotripsy. High-bulk-boiling-point (HBP) PCNDs are preferred for their enhanced thermal stability under physiological temperature to achieve on-demand therapeutic effects on target sites—mainly in tumor tissue. However, the behavioral patterns of high-concentration, heterogeneously distributed HBP PCNDs in vivo have rarely been explored—the foci of PCND-related therapies mostly fall on the final therapeutic effect rather than the detailed behaviors of PCNDs, which may hamper the development and improvement of in vivo treatments with PCNDs. To fill the gap, we demonstrate an ultrasound-only extravascular monitoring technique to analyze the underlying behavioral patterns of intratumorally injected HBP PCNDs. In our hypothesis, recondensation and coalescence are the two predominant patterns influencing the trend of the postactivation signal of PCNDs. A “blink map” method was, thus, proposed to separate the two parts of the signal by recognizing the unique signal pattern of stochastic recondensation, and four derivative metrics were calculated for further analysis. The results revealed the postactivation patterns of PCNDs at different activation-pulse durations and activation stages throughout the activation-imaging period, and several general trends were observed and explained by existing theories, suggesting the feasibility of our extravascular monitoring technique. Overall, this work enriches the knowledge of the characteristics of HBP PCNDs as extravascular theranostic agents, and the monitoring results have the potential to provide timely feedback on PCND-related treatments underway, which may help adjust the treatment strategy and improve the therapeutic efficacy.
{"title":"Exploring the Postactivation Behavioral Patterns of Intratumorally Injected Theranostic Nanodroplets: An Ultrasound-Only Extravascular Monitoring Technique","authors":"Anqi Huang;Ziyan Jia;Haitao Wu;Kangyi Feng;Chaonan Zhang;Mingxi Wan;Yujin Zong","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3450885","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3450885","url":null,"abstract":"Phase-change nanodroplets (PCNDs) are customizable and controllable theranostic agents of particular interest in extravascular therapies such as drug delivery and histotripsy. High-bulk-boiling-point (HBP) PCNDs are preferred for their enhanced thermal stability under physiological temperature to achieve on-demand therapeutic effects on target sites—mainly in tumor tissue. However, the behavioral patterns of high-concentration, heterogeneously distributed HBP PCNDs in vivo have rarely been explored—the foci of PCND-related therapies mostly fall on the final therapeutic effect rather than the detailed behaviors of PCNDs, which may hamper the development and improvement of in vivo treatments with PCNDs. To fill the gap, we demonstrate an ultrasound-only extravascular monitoring technique to analyze the underlying behavioral patterns of intratumorally injected HBP PCNDs. In our hypothesis, recondensation and coalescence are the two predominant patterns influencing the trend of the postactivation signal of PCNDs. A “blink map” method was, thus, proposed to separate the two parts of the signal by recognizing the unique signal pattern of stochastic recondensation, and four derivative metrics were calculated for further analysis. The results revealed the postactivation patterns of PCNDs at different activation-pulse durations and activation stages throughout the activation-imaging period, and several general trends were observed and explained by existing theories, suggesting the feasibility of our extravascular monitoring technique. Overall, this work enriches the knowledge of the characteristics of HBP PCNDs as extravascular theranostic agents, and the monitoring results have the potential to provide timely feedback on PCND-related treatments underway, which may help adjust the treatment strategy and improve the therapeutic efficacy.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1186-1198"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142086093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-28DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451289
Sergio Jiménez-Gambín;Sua Bae;Robin Ji;Fotios Tsitsos;Elisa E. Konofagou
Focused ultrasound (FUS) and microbubbles facilitate blood-brain barrier opening (BBBO) noninvasively, transiently, and safely for targeted drug delivery. Unlike state-of-the-art approaches, in this study, we demonstrate for the first time the simultaneous, bilateral BBBO in non-human primates (NHPs) using acoustic holograms at caudate and putamen structures. The simple and low-cost system with a single-element FUS transducer and 3-D printed acoustic hologram was guided by neuronavigation and a robotic arm. The advantages of holograms are transcranial aberration correction, simultaneous multifocus and high localization, and target-independent transducer positioning, defining a promising alternative for time- and cost-efficient FUS procedures. Holograms were designed with the k-space method by time-reversal techniques. T1-weighted MRI was used for treatment planning, while the computed tomography (CT) scan provided the head tissues acoustic properties. For the BBBO procedure, a robotic arm allowed transducer positioning errors below 0.1 mm and 0.1°. Following positioning, 0.5–0.6-MPa, 513-kHz microbubble-enhanced FUS was applied for 4 min. For BBBO assessment, Post-FUS T1-weighted MRI was acquired, and contrast enhancement indicated bilateral gadolinium extravasation at both caudate or putamen structures. The two BBBO locations were separated by 13.13 mm with a volume of 91.81 mm3 in the caudate, compared with 9.40 mm with a volume of 124.52 mm3 in simulation, while they were separated by 21.74 mm with a volume of 145.38 mm3 in the putamen and compared with 22.32 mm with a volume of 156.42 mm3 in simulation. No neurological damage was observed through T2-weighted and susceptibility-weighted imaging. This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of hologram-assisted neuronavigation-guided-FUS for BBBO in NHP, providing thus an avenue for clinical translation.
{"title":"Feasibility of Hologram-Assisted Bilateral Blood–Brain Barrier Opening in Non-Human Primates","authors":"Sergio Jiménez-Gambín;Sua Bae;Robin Ji;Fotios Tsitsos;Elisa E. Konofagou","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451289","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3451289","url":null,"abstract":"Focused ultrasound (FUS) and microbubbles facilitate blood-brain barrier opening (BBBO) noninvasively, transiently, and safely for targeted drug delivery. Unlike state-of-the-art approaches, in this study, we demonstrate for the first time the simultaneous, bilateral BBBO in non-human primates (NHPs) using acoustic holograms at caudate and putamen structures. The simple and low-cost system with a single-element FUS transducer and 3-D printed acoustic hologram was guided by neuronavigation and a robotic arm. The advantages of holograms are transcranial aberration correction, simultaneous multifocus and high localization, and target-independent transducer positioning, defining a promising alternative for time- and cost-efficient FUS procedures. Holograms were designed with the k-space method by time-reversal techniques. T1-weighted MRI was used for treatment planning, while the computed tomography (CT) scan provided the head tissues acoustic properties. For the BBBO procedure, a robotic arm allowed transducer positioning errors below 0.1 mm and 0.1°. Following positioning, 0.5–0.6-MPa, 513-kHz microbubble-enhanced FUS was applied for 4 min. For BBBO assessment, Post-FUS T1-weighted MRI was acquired, and contrast enhancement indicated bilateral gadolinium extravasation at both caudate or putamen structures. The two BBBO locations were separated by 13.13 mm with a volume of 91.81 mm3 in the caudate, compared with 9.40 mm with a volume of 124.52 mm3 in simulation, while they were separated by 21.74 mm with a volume of 145.38 mm3 in the putamen and compared with 22.32 mm with a volume of 156.42 mm3 in simulation. No neurological damage was observed through T2-weighted and susceptibility-weighted imaging. This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of hologram-assisted neuronavigation-guided-FUS for BBBO in NHP, providing thus an avenue for clinical translation.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1172-1185"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142086094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-27DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3445131
Rick Waasdorp;David Maresca;Guillaume Renaud
The influence of the transducer lens on image reconstruction is often overlooked. Lenses usually exhibit a lower sound speed than soft biological tissues. In academic research, the exact lens sound speed and thickness are typically unknown. Here, we present a simple and nondestructive method to characterize the lens sound speed and thickness as well as the time to peak of the round-trip ultrasound waveform, another key parameter for optimal image reconstruction. We applied our method to three transducers with center frequencies of 2.5, 7.5, and 15 MHz. We estimated the three parameters with an element-by-element transmission sequence that records internal reflections within the lens. We validated the retrieved parameters using an autofocusing approach that estimates sound speed in water. We show that the combination of our parameters estimation method with two-layer ray tracing outperforms standard image reconstruction. For all transducers, we successfully improved the accuracy of medium sound speed estimation, spatial resolution, and contrast. The proposed method is simple and robust and provides an accurate estimation of the transducer lens parameters and the time to peak of the ultrasound waveform, which leads to improved ultrasound image quality.
{"title":"Assessing Transducer Parameters for Accurate Medium Sound Speed Estimation and Image Reconstruction","authors":"Rick Waasdorp;David Maresca;Guillaume Renaud","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3445131","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3445131","url":null,"abstract":"The influence of the transducer lens on image reconstruction is often overlooked. Lenses usually exhibit a lower sound speed than soft biological tissues. In academic research, the exact lens sound speed and thickness are typically unknown. Here, we present a simple and nondestructive method to characterize the lens sound speed and thickness as well as the time to peak of the round-trip ultrasound waveform, another key parameter for optimal image reconstruction. We applied our method to three transducers with center frequencies of 2.5, 7.5, and 15 MHz. We estimated the three parameters with an element-by-element transmission sequence that records internal reflections within the lens. We validated the retrieved parameters using an autofocusing approach that estimates sound speed in water. We show that the combination of our parameters estimation method with two-layer ray tracing outperforms standard image reconstruction. For all transducers, we successfully improved the accuracy of medium sound speed estimation, spatial resolution, and contrast. The proposed method is simple and robust and provides an accurate estimation of the transducer lens parameters and the time to peak of the ultrasound waveform, which leads to improved ultrasound image quality.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1233-1243"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10653747","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142080189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ultrasound plane wave (PW) imaging is a cutting-edge technique that enables high frame-rate imaging. However, one challenge associated with high frame-rate ultrasound imaging is the high noise associated with them, hindering their wider adoption. Therefore, the development of a denoising method becomes imperative to augment the quality of PW images. Drawing inspiration from denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs), our proposed solution aims to enhance PW image quality. Specifically, the method considers the distinction between low-angle and high-angle compounding PWs as noise and effectively eliminates it by adapting a DDPM to beamformed radio frequency (RF) data. The method underwent training using only 400 simulated images. In addition, our approach employs natural image segmentation masks as intensity maps for the generated images, resulting in accurate denoising for various anatomy shapes. The proposed method was assessed across simulation, phantom, and in vivo images. The results of the evaluations indicate that our approach not only enhances the image quality on simulated data but also demonstrates effectiveness on phantom and in vivo data in terms of image quality. Comparative analysis with other methods underscores the superiority of our proposed method across various evaluation metrics. The source code and trained model will be released along with the dataset at: http://code.sonography.ai .
{"title":"Denoising Plane Wave Ultrasound Images Using Diffusion Probabilistic Models","authors":"Hojat Asgariandehkordi;Sobhan Goudarzi;Mostafa Sharifzadeh;Adrian Basarab;Hassan Rivaz","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448209","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448209","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrasound plane wave (PW) imaging is a cutting-edge technique that enables high frame-rate imaging. However, one challenge associated with high frame-rate ultrasound imaging is the high noise associated with them, hindering their wider adoption. Therefore, the development of a denoising method becomes imperative to augment the quality of PW images. Drawing inspiration from denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs), our proposed solution aims to enhance PW image quality. Specifically, the method considers the distinction between low-angle and high-angle compounding PWs as noise and effectively eliminates it by adapting a DDPM to beamformed radio frequency (RF) data. The method underwent training using only 400 simulated images. In addition, our approach employs natural image segmentation masks as intensity maps for the generated images, resulting in accurate denoising for various anatomy shapes. The proposed method was assessed across simulation, phantom, and in vivo images. The results of the evaluations indicate that our approach not only enhances the image quality on simulated data but also demonstrates effectiveness on phantom and in vivo data in terms of image quality. Comparative analysis with other methods underscores the superiority of our proposed method across various evaluation metrics. The source code and trained model will be released along with the dataset at: \u0000<uri>http://code.sonography.ai</uri>\u0000.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 11","pages":"1526-1539"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142072618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article presents a novel method for close-range, high-resolution ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) ranging using piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) operating below the device resonance in air. The proposed method involves cross correlation techniques to accurately detect the reflected echo signals despite the presence of ringdown signal interference. For the experiments, a high fill-factor array of silicon-on-nothing (SON) PMUTs was used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A thorough investigation was conducted to determine the optimal driving frequency for below-resonance ToF ranging, to improve resolution and minimize detection errors. The results of the experiments showed that the system was able to accurately measure sub- $mu $ m vibrations of a metal plate placed 13 mm away from the PMUT array. The system exhibited the ability to detect target object vibrations with a peak-to-peak displacement under $6~mu $ m and sub- $mu $ m floor noise. Moreover, the maximum detectable vibration frequency reached up to 1 kHz. This study highlights the potential of the proposed ToF ranging method in noncontact vibration monitoring applications across various fields, such as robotics and predictive maintenance.
{"title":"Close Range and High-Resolution Detection of Vibration by Ultrasonic Wave Using Silicon-on-Nothing PMUTs","authors":"Yul Koh;Daniel Ssu-Han Chen;Mantalena Sarafianou;Jaibir Sharma;Duan Jian Goh;David Sze Wai Choong;Eldwin Jiaqiang Ng;Joshua En-Yuan Lee","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448481","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448481","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a novel method for close-range, high-resolution ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) ranging using piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) operating below the device resonance in air. The proposed method involves cross correlation techniques to accurately detect the reflected echo signals despite the presence of ringdown signal interference. For the experiments, a high fill-factor array of silicon-on-nothing (SON) PMUTs was used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A thorough investigation was conducted to determine the optimal driving frequency for below-resonance ToF ranging, to improve resolution and minimize detection errors. The results of the experiments showed that the system was able to accurately measure sub-\u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>$mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000m vibrations of a metal plate placed 13 mm away from the PMUT array. The system exhibited the ability to detect target object vibrations with a peak-to-peak displacement under \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>$6~mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000m and sub-\u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>$mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000m floor noise. Moreover, the maximum detectable vibration frequency reached up to 1 kHz. This study highlights the potential of the proposed ToF ranging method in noncontact vibration monitoring applications across various fields, such as robotics and predictive maintenance.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1345-1355"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142072617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-26DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3449815
Md Ashikuzzaman;Arunima Sharma;Nethra Venkatayogi;Eniola Oluyemi;Kelly Myers;Emily Ambinder;Hassan Rivaz;Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
Energy-based displacement tracking of ultrasound images can be implemented by optimizing a cost function consisting of a data term, a mechanical congruency term, and first- and second-order continuity terms. This approach recently provided a promising solution to 2-D axial and lateral displacement tracking in ultrasound strain elastography. However, the associated second-order regularizer only considers the unmixed second derivatives and disregards the mixed derivatives, thereby providing suboptimal noise suppression and limiting possibilities for total strain tensor imaging. We propose to improve axial, lateral, axial shear, and lateral shear strain estimation quality by formulating and optimizing a novel ${L}1$ -norm-based second-order regularizer that penalizes both mixed and unmixed displacement derivatives. We name the proposed technique ${L}1$ -MixTURE, which stands for ${L}1$ -norm Mixed derivative for Total UltRasound Elastography. When compared with simulated ground-truth results, the mean structural similarity (MSSIM) obtained with ${L}1$ -MixTURE ranged 0.53–0.86 and the mean absolute error (MAE) ranged 0.00053–0.005. In addition, the mean elastographic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) achieved with simulated, experimental phantom, and in vivo breast datasets ranged 1.87–52.98, and the mean elastographic contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) ranged 7.40–24.53. When compared with a closely related existing technique that does not consider the mixed derivatives, ${L}1$ -MixTURE generally outperformed the MSSIM, MAE, SNR, and CNR by up to 37.96%, 67.82%, and 25.53% in the simulated, experimental phantom, and in vivo datasets, respectively. These results collectively highlight the ability of ${L}1$ -MixTURE to deliver highly accurate axial, lateral, axial shear, and lateral shear strain estimates and advance the state-of-the-art in elastography-guided diagnostic and interventional decisions.
{"title":"MixTURE: L1-Norm-Based Mixed Second-Order Continuity in Strain Tensor Ultrasound Elastography","authors":"Md Ashikuzzaman;Arunima Sharma;Nethra Venkatayogi;Eniola Oluyemi;Kelly Myers;Emily Ambinder;Hassan Rivaz;Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3449815","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3449815","url":null,"abstract":"Energy-based displacement tracking of ultrasound images can be implemented by optimizing a cost function consisting of a data term, a mechanical congruency term, and first- and second-order continuity terms. This approach recently provided a promising solution to 2-D axial and lateral displacement tracking in ultrasound strain elastography. However, the associated second-order regularizer only considers the unmixed second derivatives and disregards the mixed derivatives, thereby providing suboptimal noise suppression and limiting possibilities for total strain tensor imaging. We propose to improve axial, lateral, axial shear, and lateral shear strain estimation quality by formulating and optimizing a novel \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-norm-based second-order regularizer that penalizes both mixed and unmixed displacement derivatives. We name the proposed technique \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-MixTURE, which stands for \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-norm Mixed derivative for Total UltRasound Elastography. When compared with simulated ground-truth results, the mean structural similarity (MSSIM) obtained with \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-MixTURE ranged 0.53–0.86 and the mean absolute error (MAE) ranged 0.00053–0.005. In addition, the mean elastographic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) achieved with simulated, experimental phantom, and in vivo breast datasets ranged 1.87–52.98, and the mean elastographic contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) ranged 7.40–24.53. When compared with a closely related existing technique that does not consider the mixed derivatives, \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-MixTURE generally outperformed the MSSIM, MAE, SNR, and CNR by up to 37.96%, 67.82%, and 25.53% in the simulated, experimental phantom, and in vivo datasets, respectively. These results collectively highlight the ability of \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${L}1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000-MixTURE to deliver highly accurate axial, lateral, axial shear, and lateral shear strain estimates and advance the state-of-the-art in elastography-guided diagnostic and interventional decisions.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 11","pages":"1389-1405"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10646589","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142072619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Quantitative muscle function analysis based on ultrasound imaging, has been used for various applications, particularly with recent development of deep learning methods. The nature of speckle noises in ultrasound images poses challenges to accurate and reliable data annotation for supervised learning algorithms. To obtain a large and reliable dataset without manual scanning and labeling, we proposed a synthesizing pipeline to provide synthetic ultrasound datasets of muscle movement with an accurate ground truth, allowing augmenting, training, and evaluating models for different tasks. Our pipeline contained biomechanical simulation using a finite-element method (FEM), an algorithm for reconstructing sparse fascicles, and a diffusion network for ultrasound image generation. With the adjustment of a few parameters, the proposed pipeline can generate a large dataset of real-time ultrasound images with diversity in morphology and pattern. With 3030 ultrasound images generated, we qualitatively and quantitatively verified that the synthetic images closely matched with the in vivo images. In addition, we applied the synthetic dataset to different tasks of muscle analysis. Compared to trained on an unaugmented dataset, a model trained on synthetic one had better cross-dataset performance, which demonstrates the feasibility of synthesizing pipeline to augment model training and avoid overfitting. The results of the regression task show potentials under the conditions that the number of datasets or the accurate label is limited. The proposed synthesizing pipeline can not only be used for muscle-related study but also for other similar study and model development, where sequential images are needed for training.
{"title":"Synthesizing Real-Time Ultrasound Images of Muscle Based on Biomechanical Simulation and Conditional Diffusion Network","authors":"Zhen Song;Yihao Zhou;Jianfa Wang;Christina Zong-Hao Ma;Yongping Zheng","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3445434","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3445434","url":null,"abstract":"Quantitative muscle function analysis based on ultrasound imaging, has been used for various applications, particularly with recent development of deep learning methods. The nature of speckle noises in ultrasound images poses challenges to accurate and reliable data annotation for supervised learning algorithms. To obtain a large and reliable dataset without manual scanning and labeling, we proposed a synthesizing pipeline to provide synthetic ultrasound datasets of muscle movement with an accurate ground truth, allowing augmenting, training, and evaluating models for different tasks. Our pipeline contained biomechanical simulation using a finite-element method (FEM), an algorithm for reconstructing sparse fascicles, and a diffusion network for ultrasound image generation. With the adjustment of a few parameters, the proposed pipeline can generate a large dataset of real-time ultrasound images with diversity in morphology and pattern. With 3030 ultrasound images generated, we qualitatively and quantitatively verified that the synthetic images closely matched with the in vivo images. In addition, we applied the synthetic dataset to different tasks of muscle analysis. Compared to trained on an unaugmented dataset, a model trained on synthetic one had better cross-dataset performance, which demonstrates the feasibility of synthesizing pipeline to augment model training and avoid overfitting. The results of the regression task show potentials under the conditions that the number of datasets or the accurate label is limited. The proposed synthesizing pipeline can not only be used for muscle-related study but also for other similar study and model development, where sequential images are needed for training.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 11","pages":"1501-1513"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10648656","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142072620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448217
Tzu-Hsuan Hsu;Zhi-Qiang Lee;Guan-Lin Wu;Chun-Chen Yeh;Chia-Hsien Tsai;Ming-Huang Li
The need for wideband radio frequency front ends (RFFEs) with next-generation wireless protocols highlights the importance of electromechanical coupling ${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ . The hetero acoustic layered (HAL) surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator with aluminum (Al) electrodes has shown superior performance compared to conventional SAW devices. Despite gold (Au) having excellent conductivity and stable properties, its high acoustic absorption and low phase velocity have made it less favorable for electrodes. This work demonstrates that high-performance shear horizontal (SH)-SAW resonators can be fabricated on the lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) platform using a setup specifically designed for an Au electrodes. Experimental validation shows that the device achieves a high quality factor (Q) over 870, excellent ${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ up to 40%, and operates around 765 MHz. Unwanted transverse spurious modes are suppressed through adequate electrode design, and the temperature stability of LNOI SH-SAW with Au electrodes is discussed. This study highlights gold’s potential as an electrode material for high ${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ , clean spectrum, and wideband applications.
{"title":"Gold as a Promising Electrode Material for LiNbO3-on-Insulator (LNOI) SH-SAW Resonators: An Experimental Study","authors":"Tzu-Hsuan Hsu;Zhi-Qiang Lee;Guan-Lin Wu;Chun-Chen Yeh;Chia-Hsien Tsai;Ming-Huang Li","doi":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448217","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3448217","url":null,"abstract":"The need for wideband radio frequency front ends (RFFEs) with next-generation wireless protocols highlights the importance of electromechanical coupling \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000. The hetero acoustic layered (HAL) surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator with aluminum (Al) electrodes has shown superior performance compared to conventional SAW devices. Despite gold (Au) having excellent conductivity and stable properties, its high acoustic absorption and low phase velocity have made it less favorable for electrodes. This work demonstrates that high-performance shear horizontal (SH)-SAW resonators can be fabricated on the lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) platform using a setup specifically designed for an Au electrodes. Experimental validation shows that the device achieves a high quality factor (Q) over 870, excellent \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000 up to 40%, and operates around 765 MHz. Unwanted transverse spurious modes are suppressed through adequate electrode design, and the temperature stability of LNOI SH-SAW with Au electrodes is discussed. This study highlights gold’s potential as an electrode material for high \u0000<inline-formula> <tex-math>${k}_{text {eff}}^{{2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>\u0000, clean spectrum, and wideband applications.","PeriodicalId":13322,"journal":{"name":"IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control","volume":"71 10","pages":"1324-1334"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142035785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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