UT Testing Instrumentation

Pulse-Echo Instrumentation
The Circuitry:
Voltage activation of the PE crystal
Ultrasound formation
Propagation
Reflection
Charge formation of crystal
Processing
Display
Transmitter
TGC
Receiver
Amplifier
Detector
Scan
Converter
Display
TRX
TGC Time Gain Compensation Circuit
Pulser Components
1. HV pulse generator
2. The clock generator
3. The transducer
TIME
TIME
+ +
-
P
Generated Wave
Applied Voltage
V
-
The Pulser rate is known as the pulse repetition frequency
(PRF).
Typical PRF 3,000 5,000.
PRF automatically adjusted as a function of imaging depth.
Switch that controls the output power of the HV generator is
the attenuator.
PULSER
ATTENUATOR
TRX
CLOCK GENERATOR
Controls the actual number of pulses which activate the crystal.
Responsible for sending timing signal to the
1. Pulse generator
2. TGC circuitry
3. Memory
CLOCK
GENERATOR
HV
GENERATOR
TGC UNIT
MEMORY
CRT
DISPLAY
TRS
TRX
Sensitivity refers to the weakest echo signal that the
instrument is
capable of detecting and displaying.
Factors that determine sensitivity are
1. Transducer frequency
2. Overall and TGC receiver gain
3. Reject control
4. Variable focal zone on array real-time instruments.
Increasing the voltage causes
1. Greater amplitude greater penetration
2. Longer pulses degrades axial resolution
3. Increase exposure
Transducer has dual roles; transmitting and receiving signals.
The transducer is capable of handling a wide range of
voltage amplitude.
The Receiver is capable of handling only smaller signals
Therefore it is desirable to isolate the pulser circuit from the
receiver circuit.
The Transmit Receive Switch
TRS positioned at the input of the receiver and is designed to
pass only voltages signals originating at the transducer by the
returning echoes.
The Receiver Unit consist of
1. Radiofrequency Amplifier
2. Time gain compensation TGC unit
3. Demodulation Circuit
4. Detector Circuit
5. Video Amplifier
PULSER
TGC UNIT
MEMORY
CRT
DISPLAY
TRS
TRX
RF
RECEIVER
DEMODULATOR
DETECTOR
VIDEO
AMPLIFIER
Radio-Frequency Amplifier
Amplify weak voltage signals.
This is called GAIN
Electric signals generated by the transducer are weak and
needs amplification.
The gain is the ratio of the output to input Voltage or Power.
Gain = Voltage Out
Voltage In
The Imaging effect of adjusting gain are:
1. Increasing the gain - increased sensitivity, better
penetration
2. Decreasing the gain decreased sensitivity, less
penetration
3. Too high a gain overloads the display, loss or spatial
resolution
Saturation Level
Distance
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Normal Gain
Saturation Level
Distance
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Excess Gain
Primary objective of grayscale pulse-echo imaging is to make
all like reflectors appear the same in the Image regardless
where they are located in the sound beam.
Time Gain Compensation TGC
TGC - electronic process of adjusting the overall system
gain as a function of the transmit time.
TGC Controls
Near Gain
Slope Delay
Slope
Knee
Far Gain
Body Wall
Gain
dB
Depth cm
DELAY
SLOPE
KNEE
MAX GAIN
NEAR GAIN
Gain
dB
Depth cm
SLOPE
KNEE
MAX GAIN
NEAR GAIN
Body wall
Gain
dB
Depth cm
DELAY
SLOPE
KNEE
CUT-OFF
The slide potentiometer allows adjustment of receiver gain for
small discrete depth increments.
Gain
dB
Depth (Time)
Slide Potentiometer
Frequency Tuning of the Receiver
The frequency band width of the receiver refers to the range
of ultrasound signal frequencies that the receiver can amplify
with a maximum gain.
Types of Amplifiers
Wide-Band
Narrow-Band
Frequency MHz
Gain
Gain
Frequency MHz
Wide-band amplifier Narrow-band amplifier
Receiver B
Receiver A
Receiver C
Receiver D
TRX
Output
To
System
Frequency
Selector
Switch
Receiver Unit
DYNAMIC RANGE
The dynamic range is a measure of the range of echo signal
amplitudes.
The dynamic range can be measured at any point.
The dynamic range decreases from transducer, to receiver to
scan converter and finally to display.
Large range in signal amplitudes is due to:
1. Normal variation in the reflection amplitude.
2. Frequency dependent tissue attenuation.
RF amplifier can handle a wide range of signal amplitude at its
input but cannot accommodate the corresponding output using
linear amplification.
Linear amplification - all voltages amplitudes, regardless of
size at the point of input are amplified with the same gain
factor.
LOGARITHMIC AMPLIFICATION
In Logarithmic amplification weak echoes amplitudes are
amplified more than strong echoes.
This can reduced the dynamic range by as much as 50%.
The process of reducing the signal DR by electronic means is
called COMPRESSION
Input signal
Gain
A
B
Linear Amplification
Logarithmic Amplification
R-F amplifier can also set the electronic level in the machine.
S-N level compares real echo signals the system can handle
versus the non-echo signals presents (Noise).
The Higher the SN ratio better the operation of the system.
Pre-amplification is a technique to reduce system noise.
Positioning of part of the amplifier circuitry in the transducer
housing reduces system noise.
REJ ECTION
Rejection is the receiver function that enables the operator to
systematically increase or decrease the minimum echo signal
amplitude which can be displayed.
Alternate names = Threshold, Suppression.
Noise
Level
Dynamic
Range
Saturation Level
Rejection Level
Zero Signal Level
SIGNAL PROCESSING
RF waveform oscillating type of voltage signal (AC)
First Step in processing the signal is Demodulation.
Demodulation is the process of converting the electric
signal from one form to another.
DEMODULATION
Rectification
Detection
RECTIFICATION
Rectification results in the elimination of the negative
portion of the RF signals
Half Wave Rectification
Full wave Rectification
Half-Wave
Rectification
Full-Wave
Rectification
DETECTION
The main effect of detecting the rectified RF signal is to
round out or smooth the signal as to have a single broad
peak.
The rectified RF signal following detection is referred to as a
Video Signal.
Smoothing
The video signal is then further amplified by the
VIDEO AMPLIFIER.
The output from the video amplifier is forwarded to
1. CRT or
2. Scan converter
DIGITAL SCAN CONVERTER
The device that stores the echo signal is called a Scan
converter.
All Scan Converters are designed to
1. Store echoes in appropriate location
2. Encode echoes in shade of gray
3. Read out echoes in a horizontal raster format
4. Digital Memory is divided into small squares = Pixel.
5. The Pixels form the Image Matrix
6. Total # of storage location = rows x columns
7. x and y location = ADDRESS
Matrix
Rows x, coordinates
Matrix
Columns, y coordinates
Matrix
Pixel
1x
1y
3x
3y
5x
5y
8x
7y
10x
10y
X, Y ADDRESS
In the Scan converter the echoes are processed on a first-
come first-in basis.
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
X X
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
50 50
Raster
Process
DIGITAL SCAN CONVERTER
Convert echo voltage signal into a numerical value.
Each numerical value corresponds to a shade of gray.
The number of shades of gray is determined by the BIT
CAPACITY.
# of shades of gray = 2
Echoes
dB
2 1
4 2
8 3
16 4
32 5
64 6
128 7
256 8
Shades of Gray Bit
Gray Scale Resolution = dynamic range (dB)
# of gray shades
Operator can select different A/D conversion scheme
(Preprocessing).
Each preprocessing curve is called an algorithm and assigns a
specific percentage amount of shades of gray to regions of
the echo amplitude.
100%
50%
0%
% Available
Shade of gray
Echo Strength
1
2
3
4
POST PROCESSING
Assignment of specific display brightness
to numerical echo amplitudes read out of
the digital memory.
9 8 8 7
7 8 9 8
8 8 7 9
8 8 8 8
8 8 8 8
8 8 8 8
SMOOTHING
The DSC is not necessary for image display, but is needed for
the following post-processing functions.
Video Invert
Display Invert
Display Subdivision
Zoom Magnification
Zoom Magnification
Read Zoom
Write Zoom
Resolution at the DSC
1. Find Matrix size
2. Determine FOV ( width/length)
3. Calculate pixels/cm
4. Find linear distance/pixel = resolution
Data
Reformatting
Data
Post-
Processing
Data
Collection
&
Formatting
ADC
Data
Pre-
Processing
Display
R
A
M
Echo
Signal
Positional
Data
1. ROM
2. PROM
3. RAM

UT Testing Instrumentation

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Pulse-Echo Instrumentation

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