Adaptive apodization for coherent multi-probe ultrasound imaging

Coherent multi-transducer ultrasound (CoMTUS) imaging creates an extended effective aperture by coherently combining data from multiple arrays. In this approach, each array takes turns to transmit while all arrays simultaneously receive, producing N² datasets for N arrays. This results in images with enhanced resolution and sensitivity, and an extended field of view. However, how best to combine the different datasets is far from obvious, and optimal weighting of received signals from different transmit-receive combinations remains an open challenge.In this work, we propose an optimization-based adaptive apodization method that computes spatially varying weights for each dataset to suppress side-lobes while preserving resolution. The method is validated through both simulations and in vitro experiments using a 3-array CoMTUS system. Results demonstrate that adaptive weighting yields improved imaging performance compared to the conventional equal-weighting strategy.