A programmable, cost-effective, real-time high frequency ultrasound imagingboard based on high-speed FPGA

High frequency (20MHz) ultrasound imaging has made it possible to delineatesmall structures with fine spatial resolution. Previously, a high frequencyhigh frame rate imaging system had been developed for small animal cardiacimaging [2, 5]. This paper presents further development of a programmable,low-cost, real-time high frequency ultrasound imaging board based on high-speedFPGA. Utilization of FPGA facilitates programmable applications with highflexibility. The printed circuit board (PCB) design achieves cost-effectivenessand compactness. The PCI bus interface allows high speed data transfer andreal-time imaging. The dedicated front-end electronics showed a minimumdetectable signal of 18V, allowing a 50dB dynamic range at a total gain of 50dB.The high-speed analog to digital converter (ADC) with a typical 10.8 bit ENOBwas employed to accomplish high speed data acquisition. Algorithms such asband-pass filter, envelope detection and digital scan converter were implementedin the FPGA with high speed and high flexibility. Finally, wire phantomexperiment showed good performance of such a programmable and compact design.