• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.14-22
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• 1998

기존의 널리 사용되는 초음파 영상진단기에서는 수신집속은 모든 점에 대해 행하는 것이 가능하지만 송신접속은 미리 정해진 수 개의 점에 대해서만 행하는 한계가 있다. 본 논문에서는 영상화할 대상이 정지해 있거나 매우 느리게 움직이는 경우에 한하여, 송신음장 의 집속은 합성집속방법(synthetic focusing)을 사용하고, 수신집속은 동적 집속(dynamic receive focusing)을 이용함으로써 모든 영상점에서 송수신 집속하여 측방향 해상도를 향상 시키는 방법을 제안하였다. 컴퓨터 시뮬레이션 결과 초점깊이에서와 같은 해상도를 유지하 는 음장거리(fields of depth)가 기존의 방법에 비하여 월등히 우수하였으며, 3.5MHz의 선형 배열변환기를 이용하여 펜텀 영상에 대한 실험 결과도 모든 영상 깊이에서 측방향 해상도가 기존의 B-mode의 영상보다 우수하였다.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2E
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• pp.87-90
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• 1995

A new solution to the two-dimensional scalar wave equation is presented, which descries a diffraction-limited beam maintaining the lateral field response expressed by the sinc function. Physically, it is a superposition of plane waves having different wavelengths traveling in different directions. The beam can attain a line focus with one-dimensional array transducer in ultrasonic medial imaging.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.312-319
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• 2001

We proposed a B-RWG LD (Buried-ridge waveguide laser diode) having more merits than a conventional RWG-LD. It's ridge width is controlled easily, it has the advantage of being more planar than the RWG-LD and it is possible to control refractive index with growth layer thickness. Before fabricating the device, we designed the optimal device for single mode, high efficiency and high power operation. From theoretical analysis, we have to control the $d_2, d_3$ layer thicknesses for lateral effective index difference, $\Delta_{nL}$ to be higher than critical value, and simultaneously consider the ridge width for single mode and low threshold current operation. As a result, it is possible to make a single mode LD having the ridge width of $6~9{\mu}m$ if the lateral effective index difference was controlled properly. perly.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 1997

In this paper, we analyzed the resolution of tomographic images which can be obtained with Scanning Tomographic Acoustic Microscope(STAM) utilizing the acousto-optic effect. To realize this, lateral and depth resolutions of both ultrasonic transducer and specimen rotating device are obtained by using BFP tomographic reconstruction algorithm. Simulation results show that both rotating devices have a good depth resolution of $1.5{\lambda}$. For the lateral resolution, the specimen rotating device produces $0.53{\lambda}$ in the x and y directions and the transducer rotating device produces $0.56{\lambda}$ and $0.70{\lambda}$ in the x and y directions respectively. These results imply that the specimen rotating device is more suitable for STAM system construction.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.391-401
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• 2004

3D imaging systems using 2D phased arrays have a large number of active channels, compelling to use a very expensive and bulky beamforming hardware, and suffer from low volume rate because, in principle, at least one ultrasound transmit-receive event is necessary to construct each scanline. A high speed 3D imaging method using a cross array proposed previously to solve the above limitations can implement fast scanning and dynamic focusing in the lateral direction but suffer from low resolution except at the fixed transmit focusing along the elevational direction. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new real-time volumetric imaging method using a cross array based on the synthetic aperture technique. In the proposed method, ultrasound wave is transmitted successively using each elements of an 1D transmit array transducer, one at a time, which is placed along the elevational direction and for each firing, the returning pulse echoes are received using all elements of an 1D receive array transducer placed along the lateral direction. On receive, by employing the conventional dynamic focusing and synthetic aperture method along lateral and elevational directions, respectively, ultrasound waves can be focused effectively at all imaging points. In addition, in the proposed method, a volume of interest consisting of any required number of slice images, can be constructed with the same number of transmit-receive steps as the total number of transmit array elements. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method can provide the same and greatly improved resolutions in the lateral and elevational directions, respectively, compared with the 3D imaging method using a cross array based on the conventional fixed focusing. In the accompanying paper, we will also propose a new real-time 3D imaging method using a cross array for improving transmit power and elevational spatial resolution, which uses linear wave fronts on transmit.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.403-414
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• 2004

In the accompanying paper, we proposed a real. time volumetric imaging method using a cross array based on receive dynamic focusing and synthetic aperture focusing along lateral and elevational directions, respetively. But synthetic aperture methods using spherical waves are subject to beam spreading with increasing depth due to the wave diffraction phenomenon. Moreover, since the proposed method uses only one element for each transmission, it has a limited transmit power. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new real. time volumetric imaging method using cross arrays based on synthetic aperture technique with linear wave fronts. In the proposed method, linear wave fronts having different angles on the horizontal plane is transmitted successively from all transmit array elements. On receive, by employing the conventional dynamic focusing and synthetic aperture methods along lateral and elevational directions, respectively, ultrasound waves can be focused effectively at all imaging points. Mathematical analysis and computer simulation results show that the proposed method can provide uniform elevational resolution over a large depth of field. Especially, since the new method can construct a volume image with a limited number of transmit receive events using a full transmit aperture, it is suitable for real-time 3D imaging with high transmit power and volume rate.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.607-614
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• 2023

Clear overlapping of the bilateral epicondyle and proper separation of the elbow joint are crucial for obtaining accurate lateral general radiographs of the elbow. However, due to the complex anatomical structure of the elbow, achieving optimal positioning is challenging, leading to the need for repeated x-ray examinations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the angle of the forearm in patients where accurate lateral images of the elbow joint can't be obtained after vertical incidence using a styrofoam device during elbow joint lateral x-ray imaging. Twenty patients were enrolled in our study following the established protocol. First, a vertical x-ray at an angle of 0° between the forearm and the table was taken (control group). Here, if the lateral image of the elbow joint was deemed inadequate, the forearm angle was adjusted using custom-made styrofoam supports with 5° and 10° inclinations (experimental groups). For the evaluation method, two assessors utilized a 5-point Likert scale to assess the images. The reliability of the assessments was analyzed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. As a result, patients with inadequate overlap of the bilateral epicondyle and separation of the elbow joint in the initial examination (control group) were able to obtain the best images when setting a 10° angle between the forearm and the table. The subjective evaluation was 1.6 ± 0.8 points at 0°, 2.7 ± 0.8 points at 5°, and 4.4 ± 1.3 points at 10°, respectively. The reliability analysis for the angles of 0°, 5°, and 10° yielded Cronbach's alpha values of 0.867, 0.697, and 0.922, respectively. In conclusion, when it is not possible to obtain accurate images using the conventional position and X-ray beam direction, it is considered that by initially acquiring images with an angle of 10° between the forearm and the table, and gradually decreasing the angle while obtaining images, it would be possible to achieve the optimal image while reducing the number of repeat examinations.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.351-364
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• 2002

Conventional 3D ultrasound imaging using mechanical ID arrays suffers from poor elevation resolution due to the limited depth-of-focus (DOF). On the other hand, 3D imaging systems using 2D phased arrays have a large number of active channels and hence require a very expensive and bulky beamforming hardware. To overcome these limitations, a new real-time volumetric imaging method using curved 2-D arrays is presented, in which a small subaperture, consisting of 256 elements, moves across the array surface to scan a volume of interest. For this purpose, a 2-D curved array is designed which consists of 90$\times$46 elements with 1.5λ inter-element spacing and has the same view angles along both the lateral and elevation directions as those of a commercial mechanical 1-D array. In the proposed method, transmit and receive subapertures are constructed by cutting the four corners of a rectangular aperture to obtain a required image qualify with a small number of active channels. In addition the receive subaperture size is increased by using a sparse array scheme that uses every other elements in both directions. To suppress the grating lobes elevated due to the increase in clement spacing, fold-over array scheme is adopted in transmit, which doubles the effective size of a transmit aperture in each direction. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method can provide almost the same and greatly improved resolutions in the lateral and elevation directions, respectively compared with the conventional 3D imaging with a mechanical 1-D array.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Radiological Science
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• 1992.05a
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• pp.35.2-35.2
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• 1992

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.217-231
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• 2003

Coded excitation with complementary Golay sequences is an effective means to increase the SNR and penetration of ultrasound imaging. in which the two complementary binary codes are transmitted successively along each scan-line, reducing the imaging frame rate by half. This method suffers from low frame rate particularly when multiple transmit focusing is employed, since the frame rate will be further reduced in proportion to the number of focal zones. In this paper. a new ultrasound imaging technique based on simultaneous multiple transmit focusing using modified orthogonal Golay codes is proposed to improve lateral resolution with no accompanying decrease in the imaging frame rate, in which a pair of orthogonal Golay codes focused at two different focal depths are transmitted simultaneously. On receive, these modified orthogonal Golay codes are separately compressed into two short pulses and individually focused. These two focused beams are combined to form a frame of image with improved lateral resolution. The Golay codes were modified to improve the transmit power efficiency (TPE) for practical imaging. Computer simulations and experimental results show that the proposed method improves significantly the lateral resolution and penetration of ultrasound imaging compared with the conventional method.