Volumetric ultrasound imaging with row-column addressed 2-D arrays using Spatial Matched Filter beamforming

For 3-D ultrasound imaging with row-column addressed 2-D arrays, the two orthogonal 1-D transmit and receive arrays are both used for one-way focusing in the lateral and elevation directions separately and since they are not in the same plane, the two-way focusing is the same as one-way focusing. However, the achievable spatial resolution and contrast of the B-mode images in Delay and Sum (DAS) beamforming are limited by the aperture size and by the operating frequency. This paper, investigates Spatial Matched Filter (SMF) beamforming on row-column addressed 2-D arrays to increase spatial resolution. The performance is investigated on both simulated and experimentally collected 3-D data by comparing the Point Spread Functions (PSFs) and the phantom images obtained with standard DAS and with SMF. Results show that the SMF beamformer outperforms DAS in both simulated and experimental trials and that a higher contrast resolution can be achieved by SMF beamforming (i.e., narrower main lobe and lower side lobes). The 6dB, 20dB and 40dB cystic resolution for a DAS simulated PSF at (0,0,30)mm are 1.22mm, 3.54mm and 7.46mm, for SMF beamforming they are 1.11mm, 2.33mm and 5.42mm accordingly. For measured RF-data of an iron needle facing toward the transducer positioned at (0,0,32.5)mm along the central axis, the 6dB, 20dB and 40dB cystic resolution for DAS beamforming are 1.99mm, 2.19mm and 4.26mm, and they are 0.8mm, 2.06mm and 4.18mm for SMF beamforming accordingly. SMF beamforming increases the contrast resolution which turns into a better quality of the B-mode images.