"Analytic" approximation of Doppler ultrasound blood flow signals

Spectral resolution may be enhanced by complex signal representation ("analytic" signal) of the signals processed. This paper addresses the impact on statistical and computational performance of the autoregressive modified covariance spectral estimator on a clinical scenario, while using, or not, discrete "analytic" signals. The statistical performance results prove that an "analytic" signal representation should be obtained prior to the estimation process. A novel algorithm to compute the complex modified covariance matrix is used to achieve increased computational performance. This approach reduces the estimation error and the execution time by 1% and 30% respectively