EP3555611A1 - Method of processing signals arising from an acquisition by ultrasound probing, corresponding computer program and ultrasound-based probing device - Google Patents
Method of processing signals arising from an acquisition by ultrasound probing, corresponding computer program and ultrasound-based probing deviceInfo
- Publication number
- EP3555611A1 EP3555611A1 EP17821680.0A EP17821680A EP3555611A1 EP 3555611 A1 EP3555611 A1 EP 3555611A1 EP 17821680 A EP17821680 A EP 17821680A EP 3555611 A1 EP3555611 A1 EP 3555611A1
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- matrix
- singular
- signals
- emission
- ultrasonic
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- G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
- G01N29/44—Processing the detected response signal, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor
- G01N29/4463—Signal correction, e.g. distance amplitude correction [DAC], distance gain size [DGS], noise filtering
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- G01N29/04—Analysing solids
- G01N29/043—Analysing solids in the interior, e.g. by shear waves
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Definitions
- the present invention relates to a method for processing signals derived from ultrasonic sounding acquisition to perform imaging or to a method for processing signals resulting from an acquisition by ultrasonic probing. adaptive and selective focus. It also relates to a computer program and a corresponding ultrasonic sounding device.
- the invention applies in particular to the field of non-destructive ultrasonic testing, in which the acquisition of ultrasonic signals makes it possible to detect and / or visualize defects in structures, but it can also be applied to any type of detection or ultrasonic ultrasound imaging, particularly in the medical field for the inspection of areas of interest in the human or animal body.
- N receiving transducers so as to simultaneously receive, for a predetermined duration, for each transmission, N measurement time signals, in particular measuring echoes due to reflections of the emission in question,
- each MR coefficient (t) of this matrix representing the measurement signal received by the ith receiving transducer due to the ith emission .
- phased array probing device in which each transducer is both transmitter and receiver, switching between these two modes can be controlled electronically.
- the sensor may be brought into contact with the object to be probed or remotely, but in the latter case it must be immersed to ensure the transmission of the ultrasonic waves in the object to be probed.
- This sensor can be linear (1 D) or matrix (2D), with rigid or flexible elements.
- the matrix [MR (t)] of temporal signals obtained by this type of acquisition can then be the subject of a processing, in particular for providing an image of the area of interest inspected or for the extraction of significant parameters of structural defects in the area of interest inspected.
- this processing can be embedded in control instruments for real-time processing.
- plane-wave compounding or “plane-wave imaging”
- plane-wave imaging This type of acquisition, generally referred to as “plane-wave compounding” or “plane-wave imaging”
- Montaldo et al entitled “Coherent plane-wave compounding for very high frame rate ultrasound transient elastography, "published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, vol. 56, No. 3, pages 489-506, March 2009. It is mainly considered in the medical field and implemented in some ultrafast ultrasound machines for imaging maps of the elasticity of the human body.
- the resulting algorithms and the associated applications lend themselves particularly well to a parallelization of the calculations on processors of the GPU type (of the English "Graphie Processing Unit”) implanted in the graphics cards of the computers.
- the performances of an ultrasound system implementing a "plane-wave compounding" technique can thus reach in practice 10,000 images / s.
- Another advantage of this acquisition technique lies in the fact that each shot is made by soliciting all the emission transducers so that the energy emitted is high, making this method less sensitive to the phenomena of attenuation, of electronic noise. or structure.
- This type of acquisition is also used in the patent application WO 2015/092250 A1 by cleverly adapting the principle of synthetic focusing in all points, so as to take advantage of the simplicity of the technique of "plane-wave compounding" in to achieve a high acquisition rate and image quality, in terms of spatial resolution and contrast, related to a focus synthesized in all points of the desired image.
- This made it possible to consider the "plane-wave compounding" technique for non-destructive testing applications.
- the images obtained in non-destructive testing may have a significant noise level depending on the properties of the medium being probed.
- it is an electronic noise when the material is homogeneous and viscoelastic, or a structure noise when the waves are diffused by heterogeneities of the material.
- Images calculated with focusing techniques in all points are also affected by artifacts, or ghost echoes, related to geometry echoes, for example the echo of a part background near that of a defect.
- N receiving transducers so as to simultaneously receive, for a predetermined duration, for each transmission, N measurement time signals, in particular measuring echoes due to reflections of the emission in question, and
- the plane wave matrix [MR (t)] is not of the same nature as the matrixes of inter-element impulse responses usually obtained by conventional acquisition techniques exploiting the synthetic focus in all points, it has been unexpectedly found that a noise filtering method based on a singular value decomposition of a transform of the plane of the plane waves in the frequency domain provides surprising results in terms of noise attenuation.
- the denoised matrix [MRu (t)] thus obtained makes it possible, in particular, for a picture reconstruction of quality which is markedly improved with respect to what the plane wave matrix [MR (t)] produces without this treatment.
- the reconstruction of the denoised matrix [MRu (t)] of time signals comprises a reconstruction of a denoised matrix [FTMRu (f)] of frequency signals from the singular values and singular vectors not eliminated, then an inverse transformation of this de-energized matrix [FTMRu (f)] of frequency signals in the denoised matrix [MRu (t)] of time signals.
- the transformation and the inverse transformation are discrete Fourier transformations.
- the theoretical decay curve is defined by a reciprocal function F "1 (1 -a) itself defined by a function F (a), called the distribution of random singular values, such that:
- an ultrasonic signal processing method may further comprise a reconstitution of an imaged area by calculating, at each point of a plurality of predetermined points of this imaged area, a resulting value. a consistent summation of values snapshots taken respectively by at least a part of the NxM time signals of the matrix [MRu (t)] at flight times respectively corresponding to a passage through the point considered according to a predetermined propagation mode.
- the calculation is done on a part of the NxM time signals of the matrix [MRu (t)] in a restricted angular sector in the set of successive transmissions, this restricted angular sector being selected so that the waves planes that are excluded do not interact with at least one defect related to singular values and singular vectors not eliminated.
- the restricted angular sector is selected on the basis of a comparison, for at least one of the non-eliminated singular values, of an experimental phase value of the singular vector associated with it in transmission with a value. theoretical phase in the presence of said at least one defect related to this singular vector.
- a computer program downloadable from a communication network and / or recorded on a computer readable medium and / or executable by a processor, comprising instructions for performing the steps of a signal processing method ultrasound apparatus according to the invention, when said program is executed on a computer.
- an ultrasonic sounding device comprising:
- a probe comprising L ultrasonic emission transducers and N ultrasonic reception transducers
- N receiving transducers means for controlling the N receiving transducers so as to simultaneously receive, for a predetermined duration, for each transmission, N measurement time signals, in particular measuring echoes due to reflections of the emission in question, and
- a processor for reconstituting a matrix [MR (t)] of ultrasonic time signals of size NxM, each MR coefficient (t) of this matrix representing the measurement signal received by the i-th reception transducer due to the -th issue,
- the processor being further configured to perform the following processes: transformation of the matrix [MR (t)] of time signals into a matrix [FTMR (f)] of frequency signals, then decomposition into singular values of the matrix [FTMR (f)] of frequency signals,
- FIG. 1 schematically represents the general structure of an ultrasonic sounding device according to one embodiment of the invention
- FIG. 2 illustrates a principle of successive transmissions of plane ultrasonic waves implemented by the device of FIG. 1,
- FIG. 3 graphically illustrates the result of a singular value decomposition of a matrix of frequency signals obtained by transforming a plane wave matrix itself obtained by means of transmissions carried out according to the principle of the figure 2,
- FIGS. 4 and 5 diagrammatically and graphically illustrate the principle of a restricted angular sector selection for improving the detection of a fault, according to one embodiment of the invention
- FIG. 6 illustrates three examples of images reconstituted without or with application of the principles of the invention.
- FIG. 7 illustrates the successive steps of a method for acquiring and processing ultrasonic signals implemented by the device of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the invention.
- a sounding device 100 of an object 102 comprises an ultrasound probe 104 having a housing 106, that is to say an element of indeformable structure which serves as a reference attached to the probe 104, in which are arranged, for example linearly or by matrix, N transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N fixed or mobile arranged in a network.
- the object 102 is, for example, a mechanical part that one wishes to examine by non-destructive testing or, in a medical context, a part of a human or animal body that one wishes to control in a non-invasive manner.
- the object 102 is immersed in a liquid, such as water 1 10, and the probe 104 is kept at a distance from the object 102 so that the water 1 10 separates them.
- the probe 104 could be in direct contact with the object 102.
- Transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N are adapted to individually transmit ultrasonic waves towards the object 102 in response to control signals identified as C, along principal directions parallel to each other, indicated by arrows in dotted in Figure 1, and in a main plane which is that of the figure.
- Transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N are further designed to detect echoes of the ultrasonic waves reflected on and in the object 102 and to provide measurement signals identified under the general reference S and corresponding to these echoes.
- the transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N fulfill both the transmission and reception functions, but different transmitters receivers could also be provided in different and independent boxes while remaining consistent with the principles of the invention.
- the number L of transmitters could quite be different from the number N of receivers.
- the sounding device 100 further comprises an electronic circuit 1 12 for controlling the transducers 108 1,..., 108 N of the probe 104 and for processing the measurement signals S.
- This electronic circuit 1 12 is connected to the probe 104 in order to to transmit to it the control signals C and to receive the measurement signals S.
- the electronic circuit 1 12 is for example that of a computer. It has a central processing unit 1 14, such as a microprocessor designed to transmit the control signals C to the probe 104 and to receive the measurement signals S from the probe 104, and a memory 116 in which is recorded in particular. a computer program 1 18.
- the computer program 1 18 first comprises instructions 120 for generating the control signals C of the transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N and receive their echoes. These instructions are more precisely programmed to:
- the plane ultrasonic waves are obtained on emission by applying to the transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N of the delay laws stored in memory 1 16 in a base 122 of delay laws.
- Each delay law defines delays to be applied to the transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N in transmission, so as to generate a plane ultrasonic wave at a desired emission angle among the M different successive emission angles.
- the first plane wave emission is associated with a delay law ⁇ relating to signals emitted by the transducers I O8 1 , ..., 108 N , allowing the emission of a plane wave of emission angle ⁇ 1 with respect to the direction z in a first emission zone ZEi partially located outside the opening of the probe 104.
- the (M + 1) / 2-th emission of planar wave is associated with a uniform law of delays T (M + i ) / 2 for the emission of a plane wave of emission angle zero with respect to the direction z in a (M + 1) / 2-th emission zone ZE (M + 1) / 2 covering the opening of the probe 104.
- the area to be imaged must be contained in the union of the M successive emission areas. As a result, this zone can extend beyond the opening of the probe 104, as can be seen in FIG. 2.
- the imaged zone can take the form of a zone sectoral bounded by the ends of the emission zones of maximum and minimum angles. It is thus possible to obtain an image of S-scan type.
- the M successive emission angles different to ⁇ ⁇ can be defined around an average direction ⁇ ( ⁇ + ⁇ ) / 2 not perpendicular to the array of transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N.
- this crack being moreover perpendicular to the transducer array, it is preferable to shift the area to be inspected with respect to the probe 104 and emit around an average of 45 ° for example. The area to be inspected can even be shifted to the point of completely leaving the opening of the probe 104.
- an apodization of the ultrasonic signals emitted by the transducers 108i,..., 108 N to form a better plane ultrasound wave. quality without distortion due to edge effects.
- Such apodization is performed on the occasion of each emission spatially on all the transducers using an apodization window such as a trapezoidal amplitude law, Hamming or Blackman-Harris. It has the result of providing a better definition of the successive emission areas.
- the set S of the NxM measurement time signals received by the N transducers 108 ; ..., 108 N is returned by the probe 104 to the central processing unit 1 14.
- the computer program 1 18 then further comprises instructions 124 for constructing a matrix [MR (t)] of ultrasonic time signals of size NxM, referred to as the matrix of the plane waves.
- Each coefficient MR, j (t) of this matrix represents the measurement signal received by the transducer 108, in response to the jth emission.
- the computer program 1 18 further comprises instructions 126 for temporal filtering of the matrix [MR (t)], this filtering to remove any information at flight times excluded from the zone. of interest in object 102.
- the computer program 1 18 further comprises instructions 128 for transforming the matrix [MR (t)] into a matrix [FTMR (f)] of frequency signals by Fourier transform, advantageously by discrete Fourier transform after time sampling of the ultrasonic signals forming the coefficients of the matrix [MR (t)], or even more advantageously by calculation of FFT (of the English "Fast Fourier Transform” ) if the number of samples of each coefficient of the matrix [MR (t)] allows it.
- the computer program 1 18 further comprises instructions 130 for breaking down the matrix [FTMR (f)] of frequency signals into singular values over a frequency band.
- FTMR (f) matrix of inter-element impulse responses usually obtained by conventional acquisition techniques exploiting synthetic focus in all points
- this operation is not equivalent when it is applied to a matrix such as the matrix [FTMR (f)].
- ⁇ [FTMR (f)] where " ⁇ " is the symbol of the conjugate transpose of a matrix , does not represent the time reversal operator in emission as for the matrix of the interelements impulse responses.
- the computer program 1 18 further includes instructions 132 for reducing the rank of the matrix [FTMR (f)], eliminating a portion of the singular values a, (f).
- the function F (a) gives values between 0 and 1 on the support interval ⁇ e [0; 2], where ⁇ is the singular value variable. It is also strictly growing. Its inverse function F "1 (a) is thus also strictly increasing, so that the function F ⁇ 1 (1 -a) gives the desired number of singular values decay curve, to a constant of proportionality to adjust it to the experimental curve.
- M 64 plane waves between -31.5 ° and +31, 5 °.
- P (f) 2 to 5 MHz.
- the matrix [FTMRu (f)] thus reconstituted is a denoised matrix of frequency signals, the noise subspace represented by the matrix [FTMR N (f)] having been eliminated.
- the computer program 1 1 8 further comprises instructions 134 for transforming the matrix [FTMRu (f)] into a denoised matrix [MRu (t)] of time signals by inverse Fourier transform, advantageously by inverse discrete Fourier transform or, even more advantageously, by calculating IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) if the number of samples of each coefficient of the matrix [FTMRu (f)] allows it.
- IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
- the computer program 1 18 includes instructions, designated by the general reference 136, for processing the matrix [MRu (t)].
- the processing carried out by the instructions 1 36 may include a digital image reconstruction of the area of interest in the object 102 by adapting the synthetic focusing principle in all respects, as taught for example in the document WO 2015/092250 A1. . This restores a digital image of the area of interest the quality is better than if the reconstitution had been carried out on the non-denoised matrix [MR (t)]. In particular, the Signal to Noise Report (SNR) is improved.
- the processing performed by instructions 136 could include adaptive and selective focusing.
- the module A (P) of a coherent summation involving the NxM temporal signals of the matrix is calculated [ MRu (t)] to NxM flight times calculated according to a predetermined propagation mode, each flight time t being the time taken by the j-th plane wave to be received by the ith receiving transducer through the pixel considered according to the predetermined propagation mode:
- ⁇ ( ⁇ ) and pj (P) are weighting coefficients respectively in transmission and reception whose expressions depend on the application considered to take into account phenomena or processes such as a filtering of geometry echoes, a attenuation compensation due to spatial spread of waves, etc.
- This comparison is made at a chosen frequency f c which can be the central operating frequency of the probe 104, a frequency for which the singular value ai (f) takes its highest value, or any other predetermined frequency.
- f c can be the central operating frequency of the probe 104, a frequency for which the singular value ai (f) takes its highest value, or any other predetermined frequency.
- the comparison is thus made at 5 MHz for the singular transmission vector v ⁇ f) corresponding to a fault location (s) D with coordinates (X D , Z D ).
- the coordinates (X D , Z D ) can be determined with the useful signal matrix [FTMRu (f)] by calculating the retro-propagation of the singular vector in reception U i (f) at the frequency f c , as for example taught in the article by Lopez Villaverde et al, entitled “Ultrasonic imaging of defects in coarse-grained steels with the decomposition of the time reversal operator", published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, volume 140, No. 1, pages 541 - 550 (2016).
- the experimental phase value of the singular vector in emission v ⁇ y is also a corrected phase calculated in the following way to be always negative:
- Vy, 1 ⁇ y M M, ⁇ 1 (c) arg [i 1 (c) ]. - max [arg [ 3 ⁇ 4 e) ].].
- the values finally retained for ⁇ and m 2 can be respectively the minimum and the maximum of the values found for each of the values singular of the useful signal matrix.
- the advantageous calculation mode detailed above can also be combined with an adaptation of the synthetic focusing principle in all respects as taught in the document WO 2015/092250 A1.
- FIG. 6 illustrates, in an example of a probed object comprising a central circular defect D, three images obtained:
- an exemplary method 700 for acquiring and processing ultrasonic signals that can be implemented by the device 100 of FIG. 1 will now be described according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
- the processing unit 1 14 executing the instructions 120 controls the transmission and reception sequences of the transducers 108i,..., 108 N for the acquisition of the measurement signals MRj j (t ) of the matrix [MR (t)].
- Steps 702 and 704 can be executed simultaneously, i.e., it is not necessary to wait until all shots are fired to begin recording the measurement signals and perform processing such as image reconstruction.
- the processing unit 114 executing the instructions 126 carries out a temporal filtering of the matrix [MR (t)], this filtering being intended to delete any information at flight times excluded from the area of interest.
- This step 706 is intended to then facilitate the separation of the two subspaces represented by the [FTMRu (f)] and [FTMR N (f)] matrices, especially when the defects to be imaged are close to a strongly echogenic interface, such as a room floor. It makes it possible to limit the zone to be imaged to a neighborhood close to the defects by excluding in particular the disturbing echogenic interfaces. She finds all her interest in the imagery of cracks forming from the bottom of the object.
- the processing unit 1 14 executing the instructions 130 performs a singular value decomposition of the matrix [FTMR (f)], as detailed previously.
- the processing unit 1 14 executing the instructions 132 reduces the rank of the matrix [FTMR (f)] keeping only the useful signal matrix [FTMRu (f)].
- the processing unit 1 14 executing the instructions 134 performs a discrete inverse Fourier transform of the matrix [FTMRu (f)] to obtain the denoised matrix [MRu (t)] of time signals.
- the processing unit 1 14 executing the instructions 136 selects, in an optional but advantageous manner, a restricted angular sector in the set of successive transmissions outside which the plane waves do not interact. with the defect (s) to be detected.
- This narrow angular sector is defined by its minimum emission index (ITH) and maximum (m 2 ) for example according to the method detailed above.
- the processing unit 1 14 always executing the instructions 136 reconstitutes and displays a digital image of the effective zone of interest by adapting the synthetic focusing principle in all points from the denoised matrix [MRu (t)] in the selected restricted angular sector.
- the computer program instructions could be replaced by electronic circuits dedicated to the functions performed during the execution of these instructions.
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FR1662525A FR3060753B1 (en) | 2016-12-15 | 2016-12-15 | METHOD FOR PROCESSING ULTRASONIC SURVEY ACQUISITION SIGNALS, COMPUTER PROGRAM, AND CORRESPONDING ULTRASONIC SURVEY DEVICE |
PCT/FR2017/053391 WO2018109314A1 (en) | 2016-12-15 | 2017-12-05 | Method of processing signals arising from an acquisition by ultrasound probing, corresponding computer program and ultrasound-based probing device |
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