Diagnostic Tool for 3D Ultrasound Computed Tomography on System Level

The 3D Ultrasound Computed Tomography (USCT) system uses over 2000 transducers. They are configurable as emitters or receivers. Due to small area of the transducers the complex setup has a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and crosstalk. To address these issues, a diagnostic tool was developed to analyze electrical crosstalk and detect errors using simple water measurements. Using a spherical backprojection, the tool projects signals in 3D space to identify crosstalk sources and configuration errors. The tool enables experienced users to detect defects by comparing the expected and actual signal projections, identifying issues like electrical crosstalk and miscabling. Testing on the current USCT system allowed the identification and exclusion of problematic channels. Over one year of constant system adaptions and tests, the tool detected three cabling swaps, two transducers mounting errors, and identified 86 channels with crosstalk signals above -12 dB. The system’s crosstalk average rejection is -34 dB.