Multi-apodization with cross-correlation combined with generalized sidelobe canceller applied to ultrasound imaging

BACKGROUND

Beamforming is vital for medical ultrasound imaging systems. The generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) beamforming can improve the image quality of lateral resolution, but its performance improvement in contrast and robustness is limited.

OBJECTIVE

This paper proposes an improved generalized sidelobe canceller algorithm based on multi-apodization with cross-correlation (MAXB-IGSC), which aims to improve the contrast and robustness of ultrasound imaging while maintaining the high image resolution and background speckle quality of GSC.

METHODS

The proposed MAXB-IGSC uses multiple pairs of complementary received apodization functions to process the echo data individually to obtain multiple pairs of data sets. The average of their normalized cross-correlation coefficients is then calculated and utilized to determine the adaptive subarray length of the GSC covariance matrix and weights the output of the improved GSC.

RESULTS

The MAXB-IGSC improves the contrast ratio (CR) by 171.18% in anechoic cyst simulation and by 91.23%/130.97%/171.76% in geabr_0 (a dataset from the University of Michigan) experiment compared with GSC, respectively. Furthermore, MAXB-IGSC exhibits significant noise immunity, which greatly improves the robustness of the imaging. The technology also maintains the brightness and uniformity of the background speckle.

CONCLUSION

The proposed MAXB-IGSC has potential for obtaining high-quality ultrasound images in clinical applications.

Method for the Detection of Tumor Blood Vessels in Neurosurgery Using a Gripping Force Feedback System

Avoiding unnecessary bleeding during neuroendoscopic surgeries is crucial because achieving hemostasis in a narrow operating space is challenging. However, when the location of a blood vessel in a tumor cannot be visually confirmed, unintentional damage to the vessel and subsequent bleeding may occur. This study proposes a method for tumor blood vessel detection using a master-slave surgical robot system equipped with a force sensor in the slave gripper. Using this method, blood pulsation inside a tumor was detected, displayed as a gripping force wave, via the slave force sensor. The characteristics of gripping force due to blood pulsation were extracted by measuring the fluctuation of the force in real time. The presence or absence of blood vessels was determined on the basis of cross-correlation coefficients between the gripping force fluctuation waveform due to blood pulsation and model fluctuation waveform. Experimental validation using two types of simulated tumors (soft: E = 6 kPa; hard: E = 38 kPa) and a simulated blood vessel (E = 1.9 MPa, radius = 0.5 mm, thickness = 0.1 mm) revealed that the presence of blood vessels could be detected while gripping at a constant angle and during transient gripping.

Inter-Relay Interference Mitigation for Chirp-Based Two-Path Successive Relaying Protocol

Since the chirp spread spectrum (CSS) system is considered as a communication technology for the Internet of things (IoT), long-range communication and a high data rate are required. In wireless communications, in order to increase spectral efficiency and to extend transmission coverage, a two-path successive relaying (TPSR) protocol has been proposed. Thus, in order to improve transmission performance of the CSS system, in this paper we apply the TPSR protocol to the CSS system. However, since the TPSR protocol is successively relaying data, the spectral efficiency may be limited due to inter-relay interference (IRI). Hence, we propose a multiple linear chirp-based IRI mitigation method for the CSS-based TPSR protocol. In the proposed scheme, the cross-correlation coefficient (CCC) has been derived mathematically according to a separating bandwidth in a given total bandwidth. Then, one separating bandwidth that guarantees the transmission performance is allocated to the primary relay by considering a single relay CCC (SR-CCC) and another separating bandwidth that guarantees the orthogonality from the primary relay is allocated to the secondary relay by considering the inter-relay CCC (IR-CCC). Since the IR-CCC means a degree of similarity between these two relays, it is possible to mitigate the IRI effect within the same bandwidth by allocating orthogonal separating bandwidths to each relay. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can improve the transmission performance by mitigating the IRI effect even in high IRI environments. Consequently, we expect that the proposed scheme can extend the transmission coverage and increase the data rate of the CSS system.

Debonding Damage Detection in CFRP Plate-Strengthened Steel Beam Using Electromechanical Impedance Technique

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer materials are widely applied in structure strengthened engineering because of the many advantages of carbon fiber reinforced polymer. However, the debonding damage between the carbon fiber reinforced polymer and host structures occurs frequently, which might lead to the brittle failure of structure components, especially flexural ones. In this paper, an electromechanical impedance-based method, an important technique in structural health monitoring, was adopted to detect the debonding damage of carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate-strengthened steel beam by using lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers. A carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate-strengthened steel beam specimen was fabricated in the laboratory and two PZT sensors were attached at different locations on the carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate. The impedance signatures with variation of the different degrees of the debonding damage were measured by an impedance analyzer. The root-mean-square deviation method and the cross-correlation coefficient method were used to quantify the correlation between the electromechanical impedance and the debonding damage degree. The results reflect that an electromechanical impedance-based structural health monitoring technique can serve as a good method to detect the debonding damage of carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate-strengthened steel structures.

A mathematical model of negative covariability of inter-columnar excitatory synaptic actions caused by presynaptic inhibition

We previously showed that a positive covariability between intracortical excitatory synaptic actions onto the two layer three pyramidal cells (PCs) located in mutually adjacent columns is changed into a negative covariability by column-wise presynaptic inhibition of intracortical inputs, implicated as a basis for the desynchronization of inter-columnar synaptic actions. Here we investigated how the inter-columnar desynchronization is modulated by the strength of presynaptic inhibition or other factors, by using a mathematical model. Based on our previous findings on the paired-pulse depression (PPD) of intracortical excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) evoked in PCs located in the stimulated home column (HC) but no PPD in PCs located in the adjacent column (AC), a mathematical model of synaptic connections between PCs and inhibitory interneurons was constructed. When the paired-pulse ratio (PPR) was decreased beyond 0.80, the correlation coefficient between the two second EPSC amplitudes in the paired PCs located in the HC and AC and that in the paired PCs located in the same HC exhibited opposite changes, and reached a global negative maximum and local positive maximum, respectively, at almost the same PPR (0.40). At this PPR, the desynchronization between the two cell assemblies in mutually adjacent columns would be maximized. These positive and negative covariabilities were not produced without background oscillatory synchronization across columns and were enhanced by increasing the synchronization magnitude, indicating that the synchronization leads to the desynchronization. We propose that a slow oscillatory synchronization across columns may emerge following the liberation from the column-wise presynaptic inhibition of inter-columnar synaptic inputs.