beam former

beam former

determines the firing delay patterns for phased array systems

beam former fucntions with

array transducers during transmission and reception

beam former adjusts

electrical spikes voltages to reduce lobe artifacts in a process called apodization

beam former controls

dynamic aperture by varying the number of PZt crystals used both during transmission and reception

pulser

determines the amplitude and PRP

pulser creates

electrical signals that excite the transducer PZT crystals and create sound beams

the pulser functions

during transmission

pulse delays

sequencing phase delays and variations in pulse amplitudes

channels

independent single path consisting of a transducer element, delay, and possibly other electronic components

a channel is made up of

a single PZT element in the transducer

how many channels do most systems have

32-256 channels

T/R switch is important during

both transmission and reception

T/R switch

directs the driving voltages from the pulser and pulse delays to the transducer during transmission and then directs the returning echo voltages from the transducer to the amplifers during reception

receiver

transformers the electrical signals from the transducer

display

presents processed data

storage

archives the ultrasound study

Master Synchronizer

maintains and organizes the proper timing and interaction og the systems components

amplifers

increase voltage amplitude the beam former has one per channel

amplification

a form of converting small voltages into larger ones

digitizer

after amplification echo voltages are digitized, converts the voltage from analog to digital

analog =

proportional

digital =

discrete numbers

echo delays

echo voltages pass through digital delay lines to accomplish reception dynamic focus and steering functions

summer (adder)

channel "single" components are delayed property to accomplish focusing and steering they are added together to produce a scan line

single processor

filtering, detection, and compression