• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.229-236
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• 2006

The acoustic field analysis method is the superior calibration method for rectifying the ultrasonic probe sensitivity. This method also can be applied to evaluate the probe performance in clinical fields without numerical analysis and precise measurements. In this paper, we propose the method of acoustic field pattern analysis with probe channel division for the evaluation of diagnostic ultrasound probe characterization. In order to verify our purpose, we performed a set of experiments. We measured the acoustic-field pattern of the three inferiority probes by channel division to evaluate an acoustic field distribution and impulse response characteristics. By comparing the results of acoustic field measurement method with that of conventional method such as impulse response and live image test for linear array probes, it is demonstrated that the ultrasound field measurement method is more effective then conventional method in detection of defective elements.

• 센서학회지
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.490-496
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• 2010

In this study, in order to overcome the weakness of acoustic field analysis which is generally used for ultrasonic probe performance evaluation, automatic acoustic field measurement system and evaluation parameters were proposed. The comparisons between acoustic field simulation and measured acoustic distribution data of normal and abnormal channels were conducted to evaluate the availability of proposed system and evaluation parameters. First, the impulse response characteristic of sample probe was investigated to classify the normal elements and abnormal elements. And then, normal channels and abnormal channels with abnormal element were chosen. The suggested 12 evaluation parameters were calculated using the acoustic fields of these channels. The availability of proposed automatic acoustic field measurement system and evaluation parameters was confirmed. And the performance evaluation of ultrasonic probe using acoustic field analysis could be easier and faster.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제43권6호
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• pp.369-374
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• 2022

Purpose: Focused ultrasound is an emerging technology for treating the brain locally in a noninvasive manner. In this study, we have investigated the influence of skull properties on simulating transcranial pressure field. Methods: A 3D computational model of transcranial focused ultrasound was constructed using female and male CT data to solve for intracranial pressure. For heterogeneous model, the acoustic properties were calculated from CT Hounsfield units based on a porosity. The homogeneous model assigned constant acoustic properties for the single-layered skull. Results: A computational model was validated against empirical data. The homogeneous models were then compared with the heterogeneous model, resulted in 10.87% and 7.19% differences in peak pressure for female and male models respectively. For the focal volume, homogeneous model demonstrated more than 94% overlap compared with the heterogeneous model. Conclusion: Homogeneous model can be constructed using MR images that are commonly used for the segmentation of the skull. We propose the possibility of the homogeneous model for the simulating transcranial pressure field owing to comparable focal volume between homogeneous model and heterogeneous model.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.22-29
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• 2006

This paper proposes an efficient array beamforming method using spatial matched filtering for ultrasound imaging. In the proposed method, ultrasound waves are transmitted from an array subaperture with fixed transmit focus as in conventional array imaging. At receive, radio frequency (RF) echo signals from each receive channel are passed through a spatial matched filter that is constructed based on the system transmit-receive spatial impulse response. The filtered echo signals are then summed. The filter remaps and spatially registers the acoustic energy from each element so that the pulse-echo impulse response of the summed output is focused with acceptably low side lobes. Analytical beam pattern analysis and simulation results using a linear array show that the proposed spatial filtering method can provide more improved spatial resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) compared with conventional dynamic receive focusing (DRF) method by implementing two-way dynamically focused beam pattern throughout the field.

• 대한예방한의학회지
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.25-35
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• 2022

Objectives : This study aims to analyze the patents filed in the clinical diagnosis sector where technologies have been actively developed since the advent of the 4th industrial revolution. Methods : The analysis has been conducted in two ways - the period from 2016 to 2021 and the time points before and after COVID-19 - by visualizing based on the word cloud method. Results : Over two thirds of patents has been filed in the A61B sector (71.8%) and cure, sensor, self diagnosis, control, and breakdown have been observed in the period above. During the overall period (2016~2021), 'ultrasound'(7.5%), 'image'(5.1%), 'skin'(4.0%), 'treatment'(3.4%), and 'artificial intelligence(2.5%)' were the frequently patent applications technologies. In addition, 'ultrasound'(6.2%), 'image'(5.5%), 'skin'(4.0%), 'treatment' (3.7%), and 'portable'(1.7%) appeared most frequently before COVID-19 whereas 'ultrasound(5.5%)', 'artificial intelligence(4.2%)', 'diagnostic device'(1.9%), 'dimentia'(1.6%), and 'diagnostic kit'(1.4%) emerged the most after COVID-19. Conclusion : This study is meaningful in that it showed the technological development trend in the digital diagnosis sector and it was found that the Korean medicine field should contribute to this field more actively in the future.

• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.521-537
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• 2000

초음파 영상은 의료진단을 위한 영상기기 중 가장 널리 쓰이고 있는 방법으로 전자공학에 있어서 DSP 및 VLSI 분야의 기술발전에 힘입어 보다 효율적이고 복잡한 기법들의 적용이 가능하여져 90년대에 이르러 시스템의 성능이 매우 빠르게 발달되었다. 본 논문은 의료진단용 초음파 영상장치에서 사용되는 주요 디지털 신호처리 기법과 시스템 구현 기술에 대하여 기술하였다. 구체적으로는 일반적인 초음파 영상장치의 구조 및 신호처리 기법을 소개하고, 90년대에 개발된 디지털 초음파 영상장치의 기술적인 내용을 그 기술 동향과 전망과 함께 다루었다. 특히 초음파 영상의 화질을 결정하는 가장 중요한 요소인 해상도를 증대하기 위한 모든 초음파 집속 기법을 표현할 수 있는 통합 합성 구경 모형을 제시하고, 이론적인 해석을 통하여 초음파 영상을 위한 어레이 신호처리 기법들을 구분하고 각 방법들에 대한 특성을 조사하였나. 본 논문에서 소개된 신호처리 기법들은 초음파를 이용한 비파괴 검사 분야에 유용하게 적용될 수 있는 것 들이다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.377-384
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• 2009

The ultrasonic hyperthermia for oncology has been developed and studied. The HIFU(high intensity focused ultrasound) is the most recent method to treat the tumor by using ultrasound. In this study, an insertion-type transducer for treating a prostate cancer, which can focus the ultrasonic beam mechanically and electrically, was designed and developed. The developed transducer was composed of three arrays, and each array has 32 elements. For the purpose of the mechanical focusing, both side arrays are slanted to the center array by $15^{\circ}$. With this structure, NFL(near field length) was set up as 30 mm. The PZT-4 and two matching layers were used, and the backing layer was excepted to prevent energy losses. The acoustic field analysis and the heating test were performed to evaluate the performance of developed transducer. The shape of an acoustic field, peak pressure, and acoustic pressure distribution were compared with numerical simulation. The NFL was 32 mm, the beam width was 5 mm, focal area was $40\;mm^2$, and peak pressure was 5.5 MPa. With heating by using developed transducer, the temperature increased up to $33^{\circ}C$ at focal zone. As a result of this study, the usefulness of suggested transducer for prostate cancer hyperthermia was confirmed by the acoustic field analysis and the heating test with TMM(tissue mimicking) phantom.

• 한국생산제조학회지
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.989-995
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• 2013

Unlike fossil-or nuclear fuel-based power generation, wind power generation using inexhaustible wind energy is a pollution-free, hazardless power generation method. In this study, ultrasound thermography is used for fabricating specimens of wind power generator bearings and wind power generator supplement flanges, and an optimally designed ultrasound horn and ultrasound excitation system are used for detecting damage to part materials of a wind power generation setup. In addition, thermal flow analysis and ultrasonic thermography imaging are comparatively analyzed for improving the detection reliability in terms of surface and internal defects of part materials and for verifying the developed system's field applicability and reliability.

• 한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.11-17
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• 2014

초음파 영상은 미세한 명암도 차이 등에 의해 분석 과정에서 근육 영역의 위치와 크기를 판단하는데 어려움이 발생하고 이로 인해 근육 영역을 파악하는데 주관성이 개입된다. 본 논문에서는 근육 영역을 객관적으로 분석하기 위해ART2 신경망을 적용하여 양자화를 수행한 후, 국부적 영역에서 근육 영역을 추출한다. 초음파 영상에서 히스토그램 평활화와 엔드인 탐색 알고리즘을 적용하여 명암도의 분포와 밝기 값을 보정한 후, ART2 신경망을 이용하여 유사한 영역을 클러스터링 한다. 클러스터링 된 각 영역의 크기, 위치 및 명암도 정보를 분석하여 피하지방, 근막, 기타 배경 영역으로 분류한다. 최종적인 근육 영역은 근막 내부 객체들 간의 거리, 각도를 이용하여 추출된다. 실제 초음파 영상 대상 실험 결과, 일반적인 클러스터링 기법을 적용한 방법 보다 ART2 기반 양자화와 제안된 영역 확장 기법으로 근육 영역을 추출하고 분석하는 것이 효율적임을 확인하였다.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• 제14권2E호
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• pp.73-86
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• 1995

전향 초음파 영상 캐서터의 트랜스듀스 (FLUIC) 부분은 진동자인 원형 전기음향 소자와 원뿔꼴 반사체인 음향 반사체로 구성된다. 소형의 전기음향 소자는 캐서터의 회전자 축 측면에 탑재된다. 전향 초음파 영상 캐서터의 특징은 기존의 IVUS 트랜스듀서가 제공할 수 없는 캐서터 전단에서 혈관의 단층 2-D 영상과 종래의 측면 영상을 동시에 제공하는 것이다. FLUIC의 트랜스듀서에 사용된 음향 반사체를 설계하기 위해 근사화된 레이 추적 기법을 이용하였다. 음향 반사체로부터 2차 외절 특성을 예측하기 위해 회절전달함수방식에[1] 의한 1차 음원으로 부터의 장 예측모델을 확장하여 일반화 하였다. 확장된 모델은 단순한 평판 반사체에 적용하여 시뮬레이션과 실험에 의해 검증되었으며 FLUIC의 잘 특성을 해석하는데 사용되었다.