Interactive Tool for Exploring Ultrasonic Far Field Phased Arrays

Far-field ultrasound arrays are the foundation of many technical applications. Examples are environmental perception in robotics, non-destructive testing and ultrasonic flow metering. These applications dictate a certain spatial resolution in form of a maximum beam width and side-lobe ratio while avoiding grating lobes. For some regular geometries, closed-form solutions exist for these parameters. For arbitrary non-regular geometries, such as spiral arrays, the parameters must instead be extracted from the Point Spread Function (PSF) of the array. In this work, we introduce a web-based design tool for the evaluation of arbitrary array geometries. We calculate the PSF using the Fraunhofer approximation and the Pattern Multiplication Theorem. Automatic extraction of characteristic values from 2D and 3D plots enables users to assess a designed array against application requirements. A collection of recently published array geometries provided as presets facilitates a quick start, while subsequent parameter adjustments foster an intuitive understanding of the underlying parameters. The tool is provided as a webpage, allowing the usage without installation, even in locked-down student laboratories.