This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an advanced ultrasonic beamforming Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip. The beamformer ASIC will enable three-dimensional imaging to be employed in intra-cardiac catheter imaging, surgical guidance of instruments, and tumor ablation. The level of integration, frequency of operation, and scalability proposed in this project have never been attempted. The purpose of the Phase I effort is determine the feasibility of this ASIC. To accomplish this task: (1) a finite element substrate noise model will be developed and used to evaluate the effect of noise on signal integrity; (2) the signal path will be modeled using a MATLAB-based architectural simulator embodying the exact numerical and sampling rate representations of the ASIC; and (3) a partial circuit design of the chip will be obtained in preparation for later stages of development in Phase II.
Diagnostic ultrasound is used to non-invasively and non-destructively investigate both living and inanimate objects, spanning applications from diagnostic obstetrics to defect detection in aerospace structures. The fundamental function shared by all imaging ultrasound machines is beamforming. The beamforming ASIC proposed in this Phase I SBIR effort will be developed with the explicit purpose of exceeding the technical requirements of most applications in both medical and non-destructive evaluation. The significant performance advantages featured by the ASIC will make it an attractive choice to instrument makers.
