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2017 Vol.36, Issue 4 Preview Page
Implementation of low-noise, wideband ultrasound receiver for high-frequency ultrasound imaging

고주파수 초음파 영상을 위한 저잡음·광대역 수신 시스템 구현

Ju-Young Moon12
,
Junsu Lee3
,
Jin Ho Chang234*
문 주영12
,
이 준수3
,
장 진호234*
1서강대학교 바이오융합기술연구소
2서강대학교 융합의생명공학과
3서강대학교 전자공학과
4서강대학교 서강미래기술원
*교신저자. *Corresponding Author. 
31 July 2017. pp. 238-246
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Abstract

High frequency ultrasound imaging typically suffers from low sensitivity due to the small aperture of high frequency transducers and shallow imaging depth due to the frequency-dependent attenuation of ultrasound. These limitations should be overcome to obtain high-frequency, high- resolution ultrasound images. One practical solution to the problems is a high-performance signal receiver capable of detecting a very small signal and amplifying the signal with minimal electronic noise addition. This paper reports a recently developed low-noise, wideband ultrasound receiver for high-frequency, high-resolution ultrasound imaging. The developed receiver has an amplification gain of up to 73 dB and a variable amplification gain range of 48 dB over an operating frequency of 80 MHz. Also, it has an amplification gain flatness of ±1 dB. Due to these high performances, the developed receiver has a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 8.4 dB and a contrast-to-noise ratio of at least 3.7 dB higher than commercial receivers.

Keywords
High frequency ultrasound
Analog front-end receiver
low-noise·wideband receiver
IVUS (Intravascular Ultrasound) Imaging

고주파수, 고해상도 초음파 영상을 획득하기 위해서는 고주파수 초음파 변환기가 가지는 작은 구경에 따른 낮은 민감도와 침투 깊이에 따른 높은 감쇠량을 극복하여야 한다. 이는 고주파수 초음파 변환기의 본질적인 한계점이 므로 수신 시스템을 통하여 그 한계점을 극복하여야 한다. 본 논문은 고주파수, 고해상도 초음파 영상을 위하여 고주파 수 초음파 변환기의 본질적인 한계인 낮은 민감도와 높은 감쇠량을 극복할 수 있는 저잡음· 광대역 수신 시스템 개발 과 특성 평가 결과에 관한 것이다. 개발한 저잡음· 광대역 수신 시스템은 80 MHz 이상의 동작 주파수 대역에서 최대 73 dB의 증폭 이득과 48 dB의 가변 이득 범위를 만족하며 ±1 dB의 증폭 이득 평탄도 성능을 가진다. 또한 개발한 수신 시스템은 상용 리시버에 비하여 8.4 dB 이상의 신호대잡음비 성능과 3.7 dB 이상의 대조도 성능이 우수함을 확인하였다.

키워드
고주파수 초음파
아날로그 전단부 수신기
저잡음·광대역 수신기
혈관 내 초음파 영상
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Information
  • Publisher :The Acoustical Society of Korea
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국음향학회
  • Journal Title :The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
  • Journal Title(Ko) :한국음향학회지
  • Volume : 36
  • No :4
  • Pages :238-246
  • Received Date : 2017-04-06
  • Revised Date : 2017-05-09
  • Accepted Date : 2017-07-31
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7776/2017.36.4.238
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