Hardware setup for the next generation of 3D Ultrasound Computer Tomography

Abstract

We describe the second generation of a 3D-Ultrasound Computer Tomography (USCT) system. After we achieved in the first generation a device with sub-wavelength resolution and three imaging modalities (reflection, attenuation, speed of sound) and tested it with static phantoms, we developed a device for in-vivo imaging. In the new system the geometry of transducers and their spatial distribution is optimized in respect to uniformity and high value of: contrast, resolution, and illumination. Furthermore we developed new electronics which allows faster DAQ (≤ 2 min) and contains larger and faster FPGAs to use their processing power for data pre-processing.