open-UST: An Open-Source Ultrasound Tomography Transducer Array System

• Published in: IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control ferroelectrics, and frequency control, 2023-07, Vol.70 (7), p.1-1
• Main Authors: Roberts, Morgan, Martin, Eleanor, Brown, Michael D., Cox, Ben T., Treeby, Bradley E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustics; Arrays; Costs; Hydrophones; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Image reconstruction; Imaging; inter-element variation; Matching layers (electronics); Noise levels; open-source; Phantoms, Imaging; Position errors; Rapid prototyping; Signal to noise ratio; Skew angle; Thickness; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; transducer array; Transducers; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography - methods; Ultrasound tomography; Waveforms
• ISSN: 0885-3010; 1525-8955
• DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2023.3280635

Fast imaging methods are needed to promote widespread clinical adoption of Ultrasound Tomography (UST), and more widely available UST hardware could support the experimental validation of new measurement configurations. In this work, an open-source 256-element transducer ring array was developed (morganjroberts.github.io/open-UST) and manufactured using rapid prototyping, for only £2k. Novel manufacturing techniques were used, resulting in a 1.17° mean beam axis skew angle, a 104 μm mean element position error, and a ±13.6 μm deviation in matching layer thickness. The nominal acoustic performance was measured using hydrophone scans and watershot data, and the 61.2 dB SNR, 55.4° opening angle, 10.2 mm beamwidth and 54% transmit-receive bandwidth (-12 dB), were found to be similar to existing systems, and compatible with state of the art full-waveform-inversion image reconstruction methods. The inter-element variation in acoustic performance was typically