Reconfigurable ultrasonic beamformer

This paper describes the hardware implementation of real time configurable, electronically steered, transducer array for ultrasonic applications. In a transducer array radiation pattern of each of the elements are superimposed to get the resultant radiation pattern of the array. By applying progressive phase delay (time delay) to the driving signal of each of the transducer array elements the radiation beam of the transmitter can be steered to the intended direction. The implementation includes an graphical user interface for configuring the steering angle and other waveform parameters such as amplitude, frequency, modulation scheme etc. in real time. These parameters are communicated to the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) via. Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). The programmable delay and waveform generation are done by Field Programmable Gate array (FPGA) so that the steering resolution is high. This implementation find application in radar systems where the beam steering angle needs to be dynamically varied on real time without any movement of mechanical masses.