Bildgebung mit großer Apertur unter Verwendung eines Wandler-Arrays mit adaptiver Steuerung der Elementabstände

• Main Authors: SEYED-BOLORFOROSH, MIR SAID, BROOKFIELD, WIS., US, PANDA, SATSCHIDANANDA, GREENFIELD, WIS., US, HALL, ANNE LINDSEY, NEW BERLIN, WIS., US
• Format: Patent
• Language: German
• Published: 02.06.1999
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: ACOUSTICS; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; DIAGNOSIS; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; IDENTIFICATION; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING,NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; SURGERY; TESTING

An adaptive transducer array in which the element pitch is controlled by the imaging system depending on the mode of operation. A multiplicity of transducer elements are connected to a multiplicity of beamformer channels by a multiplexing arrangement having multiple states. In one multiplexer state, successive transducer elements are respectively connected to successive beamformer channels to produce an aperture having a small element pitch equal to the distance separating the centerlines of two adjacent transducer elements. In another multiplexer state, selected transducer elements are respectively connected to successive beamformer channels to produce an aperture having an increased element pitch equal to the small pitch multiplied by a factor of two or more. The aperture is increased by connecting together pairs of adjacent elements to a respective beamformer channel or by connecting every other element to a respective beamformer channel to form a sparse array.