Ultrasonic Wavefront Computing Architecture on CMOS for Fourier Transform Computation

Fourier transform (FT) is an analytical algorithm that is ubiquitous with wide application uses from signal/image processing to solving differential equations. FT is most commonly computed using conventional computing resources which apply efficient variants like Cooley-Tukey’s algorithm (FFT). Modern applications are demanding higher precision measurements, requiring heavier computation needs thus making conventional computing resources inept for the task. We are proposing a novel concept using wavefront computing based on the wave mechanics of acoustics to implement FT. Our proposed technique performs computation naturally via acoustic means in a “Fourier optics” like setup and is able to increase computation thru higher parallelism per area of hardware thus achieving higher computation speed. In this paper, we will present the design of our CMOS IC architecture for our ultrasonic wavefront computer which consists of transmitters and receivers for ultrasound in the GHz and signal processing.