Acquire real-time RF digital ultrasound data from a commercial scanner

Although new ultrasound signal processing can be designed from simulation data or recorded data, the development and prototyping of new medical ultrasound imaging tools is essentially based on processing the radio frequency (RF) data, which is the signal generated by the ultrasound probe. Unfortunately, the diversity and technological level of knowledge required for implementing a whole ultrasound scanner from scratches are usually found in the companies that manufacture such engines. The implementation of the new methods in the laboratories is then tributary to the interest and good will of those companies, and the lack of such experience makes technological transfers even more difficult. But another approach of the problem can be chosen: the direct acquisition of the real time RF data in a commercial scanner. This approach takes advantage of the high technological level of the transceiver of the commercial ultrasound scanners and frees the researcher from the post processing applied by each company. The side effects of such approach are resumed to the difficulty of interfering with the scanner’s electronic systems, but this problem is simplified by the high technological level of the modern engines. Indeed, their digital conception makes the electronic signals easier to understand and the manual operations safer, and the impact of an unfortunate manipulation is essentially reduced to a distortion of the scanner’s display. In this paper, the general approach of RF derivation in a commercial digital scanner is exposed. Then it is demonstrated on a commercial scanner, the Kretztechnic 530D, equipped with a volumic probe. This system allowed us to implement one of our current subjects of research, that is the Parallel Integral Projection for the localization of a micro needle in soft tissues, and to conclude on its performances on real data, including a minimum gain of 5.