Compact and Programmable Ultrasound Front-End Processing Module for Research Activities

Ultrasound signal processing involves diversified requirements in terms of processing, power, hardware etc. Ultrasound signal processing is continuously evolving area, and hence researchers who need to evaluate the novel algorithms in real time need to have the complete hardware setup. Commercially available ultrasound scanners are based on Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and hence it does not have any provision to test the novel algorithms. In this paper, we propose a compact and programmable module, equipped with required hardware support for implementing complete front-end processing. The board is supported with an external interface that can be connected to other computing platforms like Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA's), and Digital Signal Processors (DSP's), etc, for implementing the mid-end and back-end algorithms. Provision is provided for acquiring the raw RF data, which will be beneficial for developing computer-aided diagnostics, and also to develop signal processing algorithms in offline. The proposed front-end hardware module will be very beneficial for rapid testing of the novel ultrasound signal processing algorithms.