小型化线列阵研究

介绍了一种小型化线列阵,阵结构与常规线列阵最大的不同在于阵元间距小于四分之一波长。通过理论分析和仿真计算优化了各阵元的最佳权系数,获得了良好的指向性,得到了实验的证明。小型化线列阵的指向性图具有四大特点：①单向性：仅在半空间出现一个轴对称的主波束,无栅瓣和次瓣。②端射特性：主波束出现在线阵的轴射方向。③超指向性：在阵的尺寸远小于二分之一波长条件下不仅可以获得良好的指向性图,并且波束宽度随阵元间距的减小而减小。④恒定束宽特性：在阵元间距小于八分之一波长条件下,波束宽度随频率变化非常平缓。这种小型化基阵也可用于大型基阵如拖曳阵和展开式体积阵的子基阵,进行低频宽带信号的检测。     

一种简单的宽带基阵设计和处理方法

文章提供了一种简单的基阵设计和处理方法 ,这种方法利用 3个均匀子线阵 ,通过调整每个子阵的基本间距 ,来改变子阵的指向性函数 ,使得 1个子阵的指向性函数的栅瓣或旁瓣对应另 1个子阵指向性函数的零点 ,最后把 3个子阵的指向性函数相乘 ,得到总的指向性函数。由于 1个阵的指向性函数的零点抵消另 1个阵的指向性函数的栅瓣或旁瓣 ,这样可以得到比较好的指向性函数。因为 3个子阵的疏密程度不一 ,使得它们的栅瓣相互错开 ,因而特别适用于宽带信号     

大间距非周期阵列栅瓣抑制研究

为降低工程造价和系统复杂度,采用最小单元间距均大于一个波长的大间距阵列是较有效的措施,但阵列方向图会出现不期望的栅瓣.通过随机分布法对28×28个阵元的大间距非周期矩形栅格阵列进行优化.为抑制栅瓣,将均匀阵列划分为不同数量的子阵列,比较子阵列优化错位后的栅瓣抑制效果.然后,将阵列划分为4×4个和7×7个子阵,研究子阵(错位或均匀)和子阵内阵元(随机或均匀排布)的组合阵列,分析3种不同随机程度的组合阵列栅瓣抑制效果,并结合仿真图从栅瓣电平和平均副瓣电平角度对比说明各种排布的优劣.结果表明,子阵错位且子阵内阵元随机排布的栅瓣抑制效果最好,但平均副瓣电平会抬高,相比全随机排列阵列工程上更容易实现,且成本更低.     

水声基阵波束图分析与优化设计软件

介绍西北工业大学开发的水声基阵波束分析与优化设计软件.该软件针对给定的基阵形式,可以设计期望的波束图,然后通过优化方法获得最优的波束形成权系数.同时软件还可以分析水声基阵的常规波束图和最优波束图,并计算波束图的主瓣宽度、旁瓣级、栅瓣位置、指向性指数等主要指标.软件中考虑的基阵形式主要有直线阵、圆阵、圆柱阵、平面阵、球阵、体积阵等.本软件的有效性通过波束优化设计与分析实例得到了验证.     

声学基阵波束性能仿真与分析

声学基阵的波束指向性函数具有统一的表达式,运用符号运算的方法,可得到任意阵型声学基阵的波束指向图.论文在仿真计算几类代表性阵型波束图的基础上,以柔性垂直阵为例进一步分析了工程实际中基阵的波束性能.在拉伸作用下和海流作用下基阵波束性能会发生变化,阵元间距与波长比可根据主旁瓣比及栅瓣控制要求进行限制,阵的配重可根据阵弯曲后波束性能的变化进行设计.     

基于基阵特性提高声发射频次的方法研究

针对传统的多波束探测效率低等问题,提出了一种利用栅瓣来提高声发射频次的方法.在设计发射波束形成的基阵时,为了防止由于阵元间距过大产生栅瓣,通常采用密排阵的方式来规避栅瓣现象,但这样又会增加发射机的复杂程度.然而,栅瓣的存在也有其本身可以利用的价值.本文利用MATLAB对发射波束形成的方向图进行了仿真分析,总结了在不同基阵条件下主瓣和栅瓣的变化规律.介绍了利用线列阵同时向两个不同方向发射波束的方法,并利用加权法对阵列特性进行了优化.     

自适应Notch滤波器在阵列信号处理中的应用

为了不增大阵列尺度采用信号处理方法得到高分辨率的波束指向性,首先利用Notch滤波器的＂离线重构＂实现窄带波束形成,进而结合其瞬时相位估计方法,研究了基于自适应Notch滤波器的恒定束宽波束形成技术,利用信号处理方法将矢量传感器阵列接收的低频窄带信号转化为具有指向性的较高频率波束,并采用虚拟阵元技术消除波束栅瓣的影响,给出了实际应用中具体的信号处理方法。仿真和湖试验证表明这种基于自适应Notch滤波器的恒定束宽波束形成方法是合理可行的。最后,针对适应实时信号处理的要求提出将这种方法与目标自动跟踪系统相结合的改进方向。     

多约束线性非均匀阵列天线的合成

为了提高线性非均匀阵列天线的优化效果,降低阵列天线设计的复杂性,本文提出了一种改进的蝙蝠算法来实现更低的峰值旁瓣电平(PSLL).改进的蝙蝠算法在阵列孔径约束和阵元上下界限的限制条件下,优化每个阵元位置来获得方向图峰值电平最低,实现全阵列最佳的阵元位置.本文分别对18个阵元和32个阵元阵列天线数值仿真,仿真结果达到了-20.081 dB和-22.656 dB.从而验证了提出方法的有效性和稳定性,并且实现了更高的优化效率.     

二阶镶拼圆管矢量接收换能器研究

文章介绍了一种二阶镶拼圆管矢量接收换能器的设计方法，获得了类偶极子指向性以及波束宽度更为锐化的类四极子指向性。利用理论计算以及有限元仿真分析了镶拼圆管的指向性以及接收灵敏度，并实际制作了二阶镶拼圆管矢量接收换能器。在消声水池的测试表明，灵敏度测试结果与有限元仿真计算结果吻合较好，镶拼圆管矢量接收换能器类偶极子指向性图-3 dB波束宽度在95°左右，类四极子指向性图-3 dB波束宽度在40°左右，二阶矢量指向性图波束宽度明显比一阶矢量指向性图波束宽度更加锐化。     

宽带稀疏圆柱阵的实验研究

本文通过对宽带稀疏圆柱阵试验给出的测试结果与理论值的相当吻合这一点,验证了我们在设计圆柱阵中所采用的理论计算公式在工程上的实用性。文中还特别指出当选用适当的幅度加权因子对宽带稀疏圆柱阵中出现的大旁瓣(栅瓣)是能够进行有效抑制的。     

Ultrasonic Phased Array Device for Acoustic Imaging in Air

An ultrasonic phased array device is developed to provide mobility aid for visually impaired people. To perform acoustic imaging, two different linear transducer arrays are constructed using commercially available transducers. The transmitter and receiver arrays are formed with six and four transducer elements, respectively. Individual transducer elements are discrete components with a radius of 1.9 wavelengths and a half-power beamwidth of 43$^{circ}$ at 40.8 kHz center frequency. The transmitter array is formed by aligning the transducers with minimum spacing between the elements. Even this placement leads to the occurrence of unwanted grating lobes in the array response and decreases the field-of-view to 30$^{circ}$ . To eliminate these grating lobes, the elements of the receiver array are placed with a different spacing. Forming the receiver and transmitter arrays with nonidentical element spacing makes the grating lobes to appear at different places. Since the response of the overall system is the product of the directivity patterns of receiver and transmitter arrays, the grating lobes diminish for the overall system and the field-of-view increases.      

Beam steering with segmented annular arrays

Two-dimensional (2-D) arrays of squared matrix have maximum periodicity in their main directions; consequently, they require half wavelength (lambda/2), interelement spacing to avoid grating lobes. This condition gives rise to well-known problems derived from the huge number of array elements and from their small size. In contrast, 2-D arrays with curvilinear configuration produce lower grating lobes and, therefore, allow the element size to be increased beyond lambda/2. Using larger elements, these arrays have the advantage of reducing the number of elements and of increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, the beamforming properties of segmented annular phased arrays are theoretically analyzed and compared with the equivalent squared matrix array. In the first part, point-like elements are considered in order to facilitate the field analysis with respect to the array structure. Afterward, the effect of the element size on the steered beam properties also is presented. In the examples, it is shown that the segmented annular array has notably lower grating lobes than the equivalent squared matrix array and that it is possible to design segmented annular arrays with interelement distance higher than lambda whose beam characteristics are perfectly valid for volumetric imaging applications.     

Ultrasound therapy transducers with space-filling non-periodic arrays

Ultrasound transducers designed for therapeutic purposes such as tissue ablation, histotripsy, or drug delivery require large apertures for adequate spatial localization while providing sufficient power and steerability without the presence of secondary grating lobes. In addition, it is highly preferred to minimize the total number of channels and to maintain simplicity in electrical matching network design. To this end, we propose array designs that are both space-filling and non-periodic in the placement of the elements. Such array designs can be generated using the mathematical concept of non-periodic or aperiodic tiling (tessellation) and can lead to reduced grating lobes while maintaining full surface area coverage to deliver maximum power. For illustration, we designed two 2-D space-filling therapeutic arrays with 128 elements arranged on a spherical shell. One was based on the two-shape Penrose rhombus tiling, and the other was based on a single rectangular shape arranged non-periodically. The steerability performance of these arrays was studied using acoustic field simulations. For comparison, we also studied two other arrays, one with circular elements distributed randomly, and the other a periodic array with square elements. Results showed that the two space-filling non-periodic arrays were able to steer to treat a volume of 16 x 16 x 20 mm while ensuring that the grating lobes were under -10 dB compared with the main lobe. The rectangular non-periodic array was able to generate two and half times higher power than the random circles array. The rectangular array was then fabricated by patterning the array using laser scribing methods and its steerability performance was validated using hydrophone measurements. This work demonstrates that the concept of space-filling aperiodic/non-periodic tiling can be used to generate therapy arrays that are able to provide higher power for the same total transducer area compared with random arrays while maintaining acceptable grating lobe levels.     

A split-aperture transmit beamforming technique with phase coherence grating lobe suppression

A small element-to-element pitch (~.5λ) is conventionally required for phased array ultrasound transducers to avoid large grating lobes. This constraint can introduce many fabrication difficulties, particularly in the development of highfrequency phased arrays at operating frequencies greater than 30 MHz. In this paper, a new transmit beamforming technique along with sign coherence factor (SCF) receive beamforming is proposed to suppress grating lobes in large-pitch phased-array transducers. It is based on splitting the transmit aperture (N elements) into N/K transmit elements and receive beamforming on all N elements to reduce the temporal length of the transmit grating lobe signal. Therefore, the use of synthetic aperture beamforming, which can introduce relative phase distortions between the echoes received over many transmit events, can be avoided. After each transmit-receive event, the received signals are weighted by the calculated SCF to suppress the grating lobes. After pulsing all sub-apertures, the RF signals are added to generate one line of the image. Simulated 2-way radiation patterns for different K values show that grating lobes can be suppressed significantly at different steering angles. Grating lobes can be suppressed by approximately 20 dB with K = 2 at steering angles greater than 25° and an element pitch greater than 0.75λ. A technique for determining the optimal transmit sub-apertures has been developed.     

Reduction of the grating lobes of annular arrays used in focusedultrasound surgery

An annular array with variable focus, used in focused ultrasound surgery, generates grating lobes responsible for undesirable lesions. It is known that the amplitude and the location of the lobes depend on both the geometry and the frequency of the transducer. A new procedure based on the use of a wide-band CW signal, i.e., a signal phase modulated by a pseudorandom code, is proposed to reduce the amplitude of these lobes. The theoretical study enables us to determine the location and the amplitude of these lobes and to simulate the effect of the transmitted signal bandwidth. In particular, a simple analytical relation gives the intensity ratio between the grating lobes and the main lobe. This equation shows that this ratio is inversely proportional to the number of rings and to the bandwidth of the transmitted signal. A system was developed and tested with two transducer arrays of 35- and 150-mm diameter, respectively. The simulations and experiments demonstrate the validity of the theoretical study and the efficacy of the proposed procedure. In conclusion, it is possible to reduce the grating lobes without geometric modification of the array by increasing the bandwidth of the transmitted signal     

A method of reducing grating lobes associated with an ultrasoundlinear phased array intended for transrectal thermotherapy

Some practical aspects of planar linear ultrasound phased arrays for transrectal thermotherapy of prostate diseases are discussed. Several regimens for driving the array are investigated and spatial distributions of ultrasound intensities are measured in water and compared with computer simulations. Practical recommendations for suppressing grating lobes based on the use of subsets of elements and de-activation of several elements in the array are given. Treatment safety could be increased by adopting these measures since the relative intensities and power in grating lobes and other secondary intensity peaks are decreased, as is the overall ultrasound energy introduced into the body without significant reduction in the maximum power at the focus     

Evaluation of the radiation pattern of a split aperture linear phased array for high frequency imaging

Developing transducer arrays for high frequency medical imaging is complicated because of the extremely small size and spacing of the array elements. For example, a 50 MHz linear phased array requires a center-to-center spacing of only 15 mum (one-half wavelength in water) to avoid the formation of grating lobes in the radiation pattern of the array. Fabricating an array with these dimensions is difficult using conventional technology. A split aperture design that permits much larger element spacing (3 to 4 times) while avoiding the formation of grating lobes is described. The 3-D radiation pattern of a 1.9x1.4 mm, 50-MHz split aperture linear phased array with 33 transmit elements and 33 receive elements has been evaluated theoretically. The azimuthal beam width is 90 mum at a distance of 4.0 mm. Grating lobes are suppressed by at least 60 dB at distances >4.0 mm (~f/2). The elevation beam width is 220 mum at 4.0 mm, and a useful depth of field over the axial range from 4 to 10 mm is obtained.     

Broad-bandwidth radiation patterns of sparse two-dimensionalvernier arrays

The fabrication of a dense (one-half wavelength element spacing) two-dimensional (2D) transducer array suitable for medical ultrasound imaging is unrealistic using existing technology. Consequently, there is interest in developing sparse 2D transducer arrays. In this paper, we present the results of a study looking at the broad-bandwidth radiation patterns of 72 different sparse 2D vernier arrays. Suppression of grating lobes is achieved by choosing a different arrangement of transmit and receive elements using an analogy with a vernier scale. The broad-bandwidth radiation patterns were investigated by simulating volumetric sector scan of a point target. We summarize these results by deriving a set of design curves that predicts the minimum number of elements, element spacing, and apodization required for a desired beam width and maximum secondary lobe. The results show that a sparse vernier array can be designed with significantly lower average and peak secondary lobes compared with a sparse random array with the same number of elements and aperture size     

Time-division multiplexing of large serial fiber-optic Bragg grating sensor arrays

Time-division multiplexing is a promising method for the interrogation of fiber-optic Bragg grating sensors arrays for measurement of strain and temperature. We examine the performance of these systems to determine the parameters for high-sensitivity, low-cross-talk operation. It is shown that the performance can be greatly improved by use of a short time resolution in the demultiplexing process. We propose a new method of demultiplexing with an electro-optic modulator to read out the sensor pulses by gating the signal with 400-ps resolution. The system is demonstrated experimentally to provide 0.15-muepsilon/ radicalHz strain resolution in a 50-Hz bandwidth within a full-scale range of 8000 muepsilon. The system parameters are capable of handling at least 50 time-addressed sensors on a single fiber.     

Sparse 2-D arrays for 3-D phased array imaging--design methods

One of the most promising techniques for limiting complexity for real-time 3-D ultrasound systems is to use sparse 2-D layouts. For a given number of channels, optimization of performance is desirable to ensure high quality volume images. To find optimal layouts, several approaches have been followed with varying success. The most promising designs proposed are Vernier arrays, but also these suffer from high peaks in the sidelobe region compared with a dense array. In this work, we propose new methods based on the principles of suppression of grating lobes to form symmetric and non-symmetric regular sparse periodic and radially periodic designs. The proposed methods extend the concept of sparse periodic layouts by exploiting either an increased number of symmetry axes or radial symmetry. We also introduce two new strategies to form designs with nonoverlapping elements. The performance of the new layouts range from the performance of Vernier arrays to almost that of dense arrays. Our designs have simplicity in construction, flexibility in the number of active elements, and the possibility of trade off sidelobe peaks against sidelobe energy.