An efficient motion estimation technique for ultrasonic subaperture imaging

Ultrasonic subaperture processing based on multi-element synthetic aperture approach permits low-cost imaging systems, but is susceptible to motion artifacts. In this study, an adaptive subaperture processing technique with motion compensation is proposed. The technique is based on correlation processing using highly correlated reference signals collected from neighboring subapertures exhibiting high signal redundancy. The proposed technique is tested on experimental data acquired from two different phantoms using 3.5 MHz, 128-element transducer array. The technique can effectively compensate transducer-tissue motion of up to a quarter of a wavelength, in real-time medical imaging.