A new method for assessing the performance of signal processing filters in suppressing the side lobe level

정목근,권성재 대한초음파의학회 2021 ULTRASONOGRAPHY Vol.40 No.2

Purpose: This study aimed to propose a new ground truth ultrasound imaging method and to confirm its efficacy when applied to side lobe suppression filtering. Methods: Using a computer simulation, we synthesized a side lobe-free image (i.e., with no side lobe whatsoever) by separating the main and side lobe signals in the construction of point target, speckled cyst, and pseudo-kidney images. During signal processing, we assessed the quality of the filtered image by comparing it with a ground truth image (i.e., the main lobe image). Results: We examined the effect of reducing the side lobe by applying aperture apodization, side lobe estimation and reduction filtering, and minimum variance beamforming, which are widely used as side lobe suppression techniques. Despite the drawback of decreased resolution, the commonly used apodization method increases the contrast, which improves ultrasound image quality and enables a better diagnosis. Although side lobe estimation and reduction filtering and minimum variance beamforming are demanding in terms of computational resources, they can considerably improve ultrasound images. Compounding of ultrasound images processed by various signal processing methods increases the resolution and contrast, while reducing the speckle noise. Conclusion: Although it appears that the proposed method can only be used for computer�generated radiofrequency data, this method can improve ultrasound image quality by identifying the characteristics of signal processing filters for side lobe suppression and applying appropriately adjusted filters to in vivo human imaging data.

Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging Methods

정목근,권성재,Jeong, Mok-Kun,Kwon, Sung-Jae The Acoustical Society of Korea 2010 韓國音響學會誌 Vol.29 No.e1

The difference in echogenicity between cancerous and normal tissues is not quite distinguishable in ultrasound B-mode imaging. However, tumor or cancer in breast or prostate tends to be stiffer than the surrounding normal tissue. Thus, imaging the stiffness contrast between the two different tissue types is helpful for quantitative diagnosis, and such a method of imaging the elasticity of human tissue is collectively referred to as ultrasound elasticity imaging. Recently, elasticity imaging has established itself as an effective diagnostic modality in addition to ultrasound B-mode imaging. The purpose of this paper is to present various elasticity imaging methods that have been reported up to now and to describe their principles of operation and characteristics.

초음파 영상시스템에서의 측방향 최대해상도의 한계

정목근 대진대학교 1997 大眞論叢 Vol.5 No.-

This paper is represented the limitation of maximum lateral resolution in ultrasonic imaging system. In ideal case where the aperture is infinite, the maximum lateral resolution is limited by center frequency of ultrasound and width of the first null of mainlobe is about λ.

High-spatial-resolution, instantaneous passive cavitation imaging with temporal resolution in histotripsy: a simulation study

정목근,최민주,권성재 대한초음파의학회 2022 ULTRASONOGRAPHY Vol.41 No.3

Purpose: In histotripsy, a shock wave is transmitted, and the resulting inertial bubble cavitation that disrupts tissue is used for treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to detect when cavitation occurs and track the position of cavitation occurrence using a new passive cavitation (PC) imaging method.Methods: An integrated PC image, which is constructed by collecting the focused signals at all times, does not provide information on when cavitation occurs and has poor spatial resolution. To solve this problem, we constructed instantaneous PC images by applying delay and sum beamforming at instantaneous time instants. By calculating instantaneous PC images at all data acquisition times, the proposed method can detect cavitation when it occurs by using the property that when signals from the cavitation are focused, their amplitude becomes large, and it can obtain a high-resolution PC image by masking out side lobes in the vicinity of cavitation.Results: Ultrasound image simulation confirmed that the proposed method has higher resolution than conventional integrated PC imaging and showed that it can determine the position and time of cavitation occurrence as well as the signal strength.Conclusion: Since the proposed novel PC imaging method can detect each cavitation separately when the incidence of cavitations is low, it can be used to monitor the treatment process of shock wave therapy and histotripsy, in which cavitation is an important mechanism of treatment.

수신 채널 신호의 무게중심과 평탄도를 이용한 초음파 수동 공동 영상의 화질 개선

정목근,권성재,최민주,Jeong, Mok Kun,Kwon, Sung Jae,Choi, Min Joo 한국음향학회 2019 韓國音響學會誌 Vol.38 No.4

Passive cavitation imaging method is used to observe the ultrasonic waves generated when a group of bubbles collapses. A problem with passive cavitation imaging is a low resolution and large side lobe levels. Since ultrasound signals generated by passive cavitation take the form of a pulse, the amplitude distribution of signals received across the receive channels varies depending on the direction of incidence. Both the centroid and flatness were calculated to determine weights at imaging points in order to discriminate between the main and side lobe signals from the signal amplitude distribution of the received channel data and to reduce the side lobe levels. The centroid quantifies how the channel data are distributed across the receive channel, and the flatness measures the variance of the channel data. We applied the centroid weight and the flatness to the passive cavitation image constructed using the delay-and-sum focusing and minimum variance beamforming methods to improve the image quality. Using computer simulation and experiment, we show that the application of weighting in delay-and-sum and minimum variance beamforming reduces side lobe levels. 기포군이 파열하면서 발생하는 초음파를 관찰하기 위하여 수동 공동 영상법을 이용한다. 수동 공동 영상은 낮은 해상도와 큰 부엽이 문제이다. 수동 공동에서 발생하는 초음파 신호는 펄스 형태를 가지므로, 수신 어레이에 수신된 신호는 입사 방향에 따라서 트랜스듀서 배열 소자에 나타나는 신호의 크기 분포가 달라진다. 영상점에서 수신된 채널 데이터 신호의 크기 분포로부터 주엽과 부엽 신호의 유무를 판단하고 부엽을 줄이기 위하여 무게중심과 평탄도를 계산하여 영상점에서 가중값을 정의하였다. 무게중심은 수신 채널에서 신호의 분포가 집중된 위치를 수치화하며 평탄도는 채널 신호의 분산을 측정한다. 지연 후 더해주는 집속 방식과 최소 분산 빔포밍을 사용하여 구현된 수동 공동 영상에서 무게중심과 평탄도를 이용한 가중값을 적용하여 영상의 화질 개선에 적용하였다. 컴퓨터 시뮬레이션과 실험에서 지연 후 더해주는 방법과 최소 분산 빔포밍 방법에 가중값을 적용하여 영상에서 부엽이 줄어듦을 확인하였다. 고출력 초음파를 이용한 수조 실험에서도 부엽이 나타나는 영역이 줄어들어 수동 공동의 변별력이 증가함을 확인하였다.

초음파 의료영상에서 컴파운딩 기법을 이용한 초음파의 평균 음속도의 측정과 음속도 영상의 구현

정목근,권성재,최민주,Jeong, Mok-Kun,Kwon, Sung-Jae,Choi, Min-Joo 대한의용생체공학회 2009 의공학회지 Vol.30 No.3

Using a spatial compound imaging technique in a medical ultrasound imaging system, the average speed of sound in a medium of interest is measured, and imaging of its distribution is implemented. When the brightness reaches the highest level in an ultrasonic image obtained as the speed of sound used in focusing is varied, it turns out that the focusing has been accomplished satisfactorily and that the speed of sound which has been adopted becomes the sought-after average speed of sound. Because spatial compound imaging provides many different views of the same object, the adverse effect of erroneous speed-of-sound estimation tends to be more severe in compound imaging than in plain B-mode imaging. Thus, in compound imaging, the average speed of sound even in the case of speckled images can be accurately estimated by observing the brightness change due to different speeds of sound employed. Using this new method that offers spatial diversity, we can construct an image of the speed of sound distribution in a phantom embedded with a 10-mm diameter plastic cylinder whose speed of sound is different from that of the background. The speed of sound in the cylinder is found to be different from that of the surrounding medium.

초음파 영상에서 제한회절빔의 적용에 관한 연구

정목근 대진대학교 1996 大眞論叢 Vol.4 No.-

We simulate the field response of pulsed mode diffraction-limited beam combined with receive dynamic focusing in linear array transducer. The results show that diffraction limited beam is applicable in tissue characterization in terms of lateral resolution and on axis intensity within depth of field in ultrasound imaging.

Diffraction-Limited Beam for One Dimensional Array in Ultrasonic Imaging

정목근,송태경,박송배,Jeong, Mok-Geun,Song, Tae-Gyeong,Park, Song-Bae The Acoustical Society of Korea 1995 韓國音響學會誌 Vol.14 No.e2

A new solution to the two-dimensional scalar wave equation is presented, which descries a diffraction-limited beam maintaining the lateral field response expressed by the sinc function. Physically, it is a superposition of plane waves having different wavelengths traveling in different directions. The beam can attain a line focus with one-dimensional array transducer in ultrasonic medial imaging. 측방향의 음장 모양이 sinc 함수 형태를 갖고 제한 깊이까지 그 모양을 유지하는 새로운 범의 수학적인 해석방법을 제안하였다. 물리적으로 이러한 음장의 형성은 각각 다른 파장을 갖는 파가 다른 방향으로 진행할 때 그 파장들이 합성되면서 나타난다. 이러한 제한회절빔은 초음파 영상에서 선형 어레이로 구현될 수 있으며 제한 깊이 내에서 균일한 측방향 해상도를 얻을 수 있다.

초음파 영상에서 제한회절빔을 이용한 송수신 집속의 구현에 관한 연구

정목근,권성재,안영복 한국음향학회 1998 韓國音響學會誌 Vol.17 No.4

초음파 선형트랜스듀서에서 제한회절음장은 영상깊이에서 다른 방향으로 진행하는 평면파들의 선형적인 중첩으로부터 구한다. 제한회절음장을 구현하기 위한 송신음장은 영상 깊이를 지나가는 평면파들의 공간적인 확장으로부터 구해지는데 실제의 하드웨어로 구현하 기 어렵다. 본 논문은 진행방향이 다른 pulsed mode 평면파를 각각 송신한 후, 얻어진 데이 터로부터 합성집속 방법에 의하여 제한회절빔을 구현하였다. 제안한 방법은 모든 송신소자 에서 발사되는 음장의 크기가 동일하므로 송신전력이 증가하여 신호대잡음비와 명암비를 증 가시키며 간단한 하드웨어로 구현이 가능하다. 시뮬레이션 결과는 송신은 한점집속, 수신은 동적집속을 사용하는 기존의 방법과 비교하여 주엽(mainlobe)의 폭과 부엽(sidelobe)의 크기 관점에서 우수함을 증명하였다.

초음파 의료영상에서 매질의 평균음속도 측정방법에 대한 연구

정목근,권성재 대한의용생체공학회 1998 의공학회지 Vol.19 No.3

일반적으로 현재의 초음파 의료영상시스템에서 지연시간의 계산에 사용하는 음속도는 인체의연조직에서의 평균속도인 1540m/s 의 값을 이용한다. 그러나 사람마다 혹은 매질의 특성에 따라 초음파의 속도가 크게 차이가 나서 고정된 속도를 이용한 집속 지연시간 계산에는 오차가 발생한다. 이는 해상도의 저하를 가져올 뿐만 아니라, 매질의 기하학적인 크기나 거리정보가 필요한, 심장이나 신장의 용적을 계산과 같은 경우에는 큰 오차를 가져온다. 따라서 매질의 속도를 정확히 구하는 것이 해상도 향상의 중요한 관건의 하나임을 알 수가 있다. 본 논문에서는 이를 위해 매질내의 관심영역에서의 밝기를 최대화시켜주는 접속지연시간 프로파일을 구해 매질 내에서의 옴파의 속도를 측정하여 실제 초음파 팬텀에 적응하여 좋은 결과를 얻을 수 있었다. This paper presents a simple, practical, and efficient method for estimating the speed of sound in reflection mode in ultrasound medical imaging. Its accurate determination is indispensable in order to obtain both good resolution and correct geometrical and volumetric information about human organs such as heart and kidney. Up to now, there have been several methods available, but they all suffer from either poor performance or high complexity. The proposed method finds out an optimum focusing delay profile in such a way that the brightness in a region of interest is maximized using continuous dynamic focusing in receive under fixed transmit focusing. Experiments carried out on a real ultrasound medical phantom reveals that the method a quite simple and effective in providing good speed of sound estimation, hence improved resolution and images, adding to dignostic utility.