Introduction

In this simulator, US signal is modeled as a convolution of point spread function of US scanner with a scatter distribution. The anatomy can be generated from CT images. Shadow can be calculated using reflection coefficient depth and exponential attenuation factor. Deformation due to acoustic speed mismatch is also taken into consideration. To allow a lower computation cost, speckles are simply modeled through Gaussian noises.

The GUI of B-mode simulator is modeled from real US imaging system with a 128 element linear transducer

The anatomy model is displayed on left side. Below the model, up to 8 different material property can be assigned to the anatomy model. On the right side, imaging parameters such as frequency, acoustic power, focus depth and focus number can be selected. Simulated B-mode image are determined by both imaging parameters and physical model, and is displayed in the middle. In the B-mode image, a ruler showing depth and triangle makers showing focus positions are attached on right side. A dotted line is superimposed on B-mode image to mark the current A-line, and the RF signal of the current A-line is displayed below the B-mode image. Any imaging parameter change will cause immediate B-mode image refresh. Physical parameter changes will not get instant B-mode image update until the simulate button is clicked or an image parameter is changed.