Large elements and advanced beamformers for increased field of view in 2-D ultrasound matrix arrays

Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound promises various medical applications for abdominal, obstetrics, and cardiovascular imaging. However, ultrasound matrix arrays have extremely high element counts limiting their field of view (FOV). This work seeks to demonstrate an increased field-of-view using a reduced element count array design. The approach is to increase the element size and use advanced beamformers to maintain image quality. The delay and sum (DAS), Null Subtraction Imaging (NSI), directional coherence factor (DCF), and Minimum Variance (MV) beamformers were compared. K-wave simulations of the 3D point-spread functions (PSF) of NSI, DCF, and MV display reduced side lobes and narrowed main lobes compared to DAS. Experiments were conducted using a multiplexed 1024-element matrix array on a Verasonics 256 system. Elements were electronically coupled to imitate a larger pitch and element size. Then, a virtual large aperture was created by using a positioning system to collect data in sections with the matrix array. High-quality images were obtained using a coupling factor of two, doubling the FOV while maintaining the same element count in the virtual large aperture as the original matrix array. The NSI beamformer demonstrated the best resolution performance in simulations and on the large aperture, maintaining the same resolution as uncoupled DAS for coupling factors up to 4. Our results demonstrate how larger matrix arrays could be constructed with larger elements, with resolution maintained by advanced beamformers.