Super-resolution ultrasound signal processing

A revolutionary ultrasound imaging approach will be developed using adaptive sensing methods, first applied in radar and astronomy, aiming to produce a diagnostic imaging tool that provides images from inside the human body with microscopic accuracy. It is well know that state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging suffers from significant image distortion due to the crude delay-and-sum beamforming by current technology. As a result the resolution is at best at millimetre scale, similar to all other imaging modalidies (MRI, CT, PET). The new technique will be based on adaptive array beamforming methodologies, and super-resolution spectral analysis that the Sboros group have pioneered over the last 15 years. Artificial intelligence methods will be deployed in addition to these and to optimise them. The aspiration is to create for the first time maps of speed of sound and attenuation, that will help eliminate image distortion. The study design includes initial development in simulation environment and validation in a laboratory setting. The final target is to generate a prototype tool for use in preclinical disease models. 

Collaborators: Prof Mengixng Tang (Imperial College London), Prof Georg Schmitz (Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany)

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