Curved two-dimensional arrays in ultrasound

In this work the class of sparse 2D arrays yielding a lower peak sidelobe level when curved in one direction has been characterized. Some arrays contained in this class were subsequently simulated containing 48 /spl times/ 48 elements. Reductions in the peak sidelobe level of up to 6 dB (front -50 db to -56 db) were recorded, without significant differences in the beamwidth. The arrays used in the simulations have previously been shown to be promising for ultrasonic imaging.