Acoustic image processing and measurement using windowed nonlinear frequency modulation chirp

Abstract

A method for performing acoustic imaging and measurement may include generating a nonlinear frequency modulated (NLFM) chirp waveform based on a frequency response of at least one transducer. The method may further include generating an apodized signal by applying a window function to the NLFM chirp waveform. The method may further include exciting the at least one transducer with the apodized signal. The method may further include compressing the received signal by using one or more matched filters.

Claims

1. A method for performing acoustic image processing, A step of generating a nonlinear frequency-modulated (NLFM) chirp waveform based on the frequency response of at least one transducer, The steps include: generating an apodized signal by applying a window function to the NLFM chirp waveform; A step of exciting the at least one transducer using the apodized signal, wherein the at least one transducer transmits a set of acoustic signals in response to the excitation by the apodized signal, the at least one optical sensor receives one or more sets of acoustic signals to obtain a set of acoustic signals to be received, the at least one optical sensor generates a set of measurement signals based on the set of acoustic signals to be received, the at least one transducer is located in a probe, the at least one optical sensor is separated from the at least one transducer, and the at least one optical sensor is located in an article whose position is to be positioned and tracked, A step of measuring the distance between the at least one optical sensor and the at least one transducer based on the set of measurement signals, A method that includes this.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of transmitted acoustic signals has a bandwidth wider than the intrinsic bandwidth of the at least one transducer.

3. The steps include receiving a plurality of echo signals in response to the step of transmitting the set of acoustic signals, The steps include generating multiple image processing signals based on the multiple echo signals, and The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

4. The steps of receiving the plurality of echo signals and generating the plurality of image processing signals include receiving at least one echo signal and generating an image processing signal using at least one transducer. The method according to claim 3.

5. The step of receiving the plurality of echo signals includes the step of receiving at least one echo signal using the at least one optical sensor, The step of generating the plurality of image processing signals includes the step of converting the at least one echo signal into an optical signal and generating the plurality of image processing signals based on the optical signal. The method according to claim 3.

6. The steps of delaying one or more image processing signals from the plurality of image processing signals using one or more delay units, To generate an output signal, the steps include summing the multiple image processing signals and The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

7. After the step of summing the multiple image processing signals, the step of using a matched filter to correlate the output signal with the NLFM chirp waveform in order to generate a compressed output signal. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

8. Prior to the step of summing the plurality of image processing signals, the method further includes the step of correlating each of the plurality of image processing signals with the NLFM chirp waveform using matching filters to generate a compressed image processing signal, The step of summing the plurality of image processing signals includes the step of summing the compressed image processing signals using an adder to generate the output signal. The method according to claim 6.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein each delay unit is based on a depth associated with the image processing signal delayed by the delay unit.

10. The method according to claim 3, wherein the excitation of the at least one transducer using the apodized signal increases one or more of the axial resolution, contrast resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio of the ultrasonic image generated based on the plurality of image processing signals.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is determined in advance before performing the acoustic image processing.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is dynamically adjusted while the acoustic image processing is being performed.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a function that is non-decreasing, positive, and continuous.

14. The aforementioned function is, f(t)=c atan(a(t-b))+d Here, atan(•) is the arctangent function, t is time, a is the scaling parameter, b is the shift control parameter, c is the frequency range control parameter, and d is the initial minimum frequency parameter. The method according to claim 13.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a polynomial function.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a lookup table.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of amplifying the apodized signal before the step of exciting the at least one transducer.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of exciting the at least one transducer is performed by a multilevel voltage transmitter.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the apodized signal is generated using a preset set of gain parameters.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency function of the NLFM chirp waveform increases monotonically.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the window function is a Gaussian window function or a Kaiser window function.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one transducer includes a piezoelectric sensor, a single-crystal material sensor, a piezoelectric micromachine ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), or a capacitive micromachine ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) sensor.

23. A device for acoustic image processing, The probe includes at least one transducer, A non-temporary processor-readable medium for storing code representing instructions executed by the processor of a first computer device, wherein the code comprises code causing the processor to generate a nonlinear frequency-modulated (NLFM) chirp waveform based on the frequency response of at least one transducer, An apodized signal is generated based on the NLFM chirp waveform and window function. The apodized signal is used to excite the at least one transducer. A transmitter configured as follows The at least one transducer configured to transmit a set of acoustic signals in response to excitation by the apodized signal, Separated from the at least one transducer, at least one optical sensor is positioned within an article to position and track the position of the article, wherein the at least one optical sensor is To obtain a set of received acoustic signals, receive one or more sets of acoustic signals, A set of measurement signals is generated based on the set of received acoustic signals. At least one optical sensor, Equipped with, The non-transient processor-readable medium further comprises code that causes the processor to measure the distance between the at least one optical sensor and the at least one transducer based on the set of measurement signals. Device.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the set of acoustic signals has a bandwidth wider than the intrinsic bandwidth of the at least one transducer.

25. The at least one optical sensor is configured to receive at least one echo signal and convert the at least one echo signal into an optical signal, At least one optical detector configured to generate a plurality of image processing signals based on the aforementioned optical signal, The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising the following:

26. One or more delay units configured to delay one or more of the image processing signals among a plurality of image processing signals, An adder configured to generate an output signal based on the aforementioned plurality of image processing signals, The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising the following:

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising a matching filter configured to correlate the output signal with the NLFM chirp waveform after summing the plurality of image processing signals.

28. Multiple matched filters configured to correlate the multiple image processing signals with the NLFM chirp waveform in order to generate a compressed image processing signal. Furthermore, The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the adder is configured to sum the compressed image processing signals in order to generate the output signal.

29. The aforementioned non-temporary processor-readable medium is Based on the depth of focus value, calculate the multiple delay values ​​of the multiple delay units. The apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising a code.

30. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the excitation of the at least one transducer using the apodized signal increases one or more of the axial resolution, contrast resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio of the ultrasonic image generated based on the plurality of image processing signals.

31. The apparatus according to claim 26, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is determined in advance before performing the acoustic image processing.

32. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is dynamically adjusted while the acoustic image processing is being performed.

33. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the frequency of the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a function that is non-decreasing, positive, and continuous.

34. The aforementioned function is, f(t)=c atan(a(t-b))+d Here, atan(•) is the arctangent function, t represents time, and a, b, c, and d represent a predetermined set of waveform parameters. The apparatus according to claim 33.

35. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a polynomial function.

36. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a lookup table.

37. The apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising an amplifier configured to amplify the apodized signal before exciting the at least one transducer.

38. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the excitation of the at least one transducer is performed by a multilevel voltage transmitter.

39. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the apodized signal is generated using a set of pre-set gain parameters.

40. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the frequency function of the NLFM chirp waveform increases monotonically.

41. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the window function is a Gaussian window function or a Kaiser window function.

42. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the at least one transducer includes a piezoelectric sensor, a single-crystal material sensor, a piezoelectric micromachine ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), or a capacitive micromachine ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) sensor.

43. A method for performing one or more acoustic measurements, A step of generating a nonlinear frequency-modulated (NLFM) chirp waveform based on the frequency response of at least one transducer, The steps include: generating an apodized signal by applying a window function to the NLFM chirp waveform; A step of exciting the at least one transducer using the apodized signal, wherein the at least one transducer transmits a set of acoustic signals in response to the excitation by the apodized signal, the at least one optical sensor receives one or more sets of acoustic signals to obtain a set of acoustic signals to be received, the at least one optical sensor generates a set of measurement signals based on the set of acoustic signals to be received, the at least one transducer is located in a probe, the at least one optical sensor is separated from the at least one transducer, and the at least one optical sensor is located in an article whose position is to be positioned and tracked, A step of measuring the distance between the at least one optical sensor and the at least one transducer based on the set of measurement signals, A method that includes this.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the set of transmitted acoustic signals has a bandwidth wider than the intrinsic bandwidth of at least one transducer.

45. The step of generating the set of measurement signals includes the step of converting the plurality of received acoustic signals into a plurality of optical signals, and the step of generating the plurality of measurement signals based on the plurality of optical signals, The method according to claim 43.

46. To generate a compressed measurement signal, a matching filter is used to correlate at least one of the measurement signals with the NLFM chirp waveform. The method according to claim 43, further comprising:

47. The method according to claim 43, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is determined in advance before performing the acoustic measurement.

48. The method according to claim 43, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is dynamically adjusted while the acoustic measurement is being performed.

49. The method according to claim 43, wherein the frequency of the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a function that is non-decreasing, positive, and continuous.

50. The aforementioned function is, f(t)=c atan(a(t-b))+d Here, atan(•) is the arctangent function, t is time, a is the scaling parameter, b is the shift control parameter, c is the frequency range control parameter, and d is the initial minimum frequency parameter. The method according to claim 49.

51. The method according to claim 43, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a polynomial function.

52. The method according to claim 43, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a lookup table.

53. Steps to amplify the apodized signal, prior to the step of exciting at least one transducer. The method according to claim 43, further comprising:

54. The method according to claim 43, wherein the step of exciting the at least one transducer is performed by a multilevel voltage transmitter.

55. The method according to claim 43, wherein the apodized signal is generated using a set of pre-set gain parameters.

56. The method according to claim 43, wherein the frequency function of the NLFM chirp waveform increases monotonically.

57. The method according to claim 43, wherein the window function is a Gaussian window function or a Kaiser window function.

58. The method according to claim 43, wherein the at least one transducer includes a piezoelectric sensor, a single-crystal material sensor, a piezoelectric micromachine ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), or a capacitive micromachine ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) sensor.

59. The method according to claim 43, wherein the one or more acoustic measurement values ​​include distance.

60. A device for performing one or more acoustic measurements, The probe includes at least one transducer, A non-temporary processor-readable medium for storing code representing instructions executed by the processor of a first computer device, wherein the code comprises code causing the processor to generate a nonlinear frequency-modulated (NLFM) chirp waveform based on the frequency response of at least one transducer, An apodized signal is generated based on the NLFM chirp waveform and window function. The apodized signal is used to excite the at least one transducer. A transmitter configured as follows, The at least one transducer configured to transmit a set of acoustic signals in response to excitation by the apodized signal, Separated from the at least one transducer, at least one optical sensor is positioned within an article to position and track the position of the article, wherein the at least one optical sensor is To obtain a set of received acoustic signals, receive one or more sets of acoustic signals, A set of measurement signals is generated based on the set of received acoustic signals. At least one optical sensor, Equipped with, The non-transient processor-readable medium further comprises code that causes the processor to measure the distance between the at least one optical sensor and the at least one transducer based on the set of measurement signals. A device equipped with the following features.

61. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the set of acoustic signals has a bandwidth wider than the intrinsic bandwidth of the at least one transducer.

62. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the at least one sensor is an optical sensor configured to receive the plurality of received acoustic signals and convert the plurality of received acoustic signals into a plurality of optical signals.

63. The apparatus according to claim 60, further comprising a matching filter configured to correlate the measurement signal with the NLFM chirp waveform.

64. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is determined in advance before performing the acoustic measurement.

65. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein at least one of the NLFM chirp waveform and the window function is dynamically adjusted while the acoustic measurement is being performed.

66. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the frequency of the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a function that is non-decreasing, positive, and continuous.

67. The aforementioned function is, f(t)=c atan(a(t-b))+d Here, atan(•) is the arctangent function, t represents time, and a, b, c, and d represent a predetermined set of waveform parameters. The apparatus according to claim 66.

68. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a polynomial function.

69. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the NLFM chirp waveform is generated based on a lookup table.

70. The apparatus according to claim 60, further comprising an amplifier configured to amplify the apodized signal before exciting the at least one transducer.

71. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the excitation of the at least one transducer is performed by a multilevel voltage transmitter.

72. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the apodized signal is generated using a preset set of gain parameters.

73. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the frequency function of the NLFM chirp waveform increases monotonically.

74. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the window function is a Gaussian window function or a Kaiser window function.

75. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein the at least one transducer includes a piezoelectric sensor, a single-crystal material sensor, a piezoelectric micromachine ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), or a capacitive micromachine ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) sensor.

76. The apparatus according to claim 60, wherein one or more acoustic measurement values ​​include distance.

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