Experimental analysis of a computationally efficient phase aberration correction technique

A phase aberration correction method, based on time delay estimation via minimization of the sum of absolute differences between radio frequency samples of adjacent array elements, is presented. Effects of averaging estimated aberration patterns over scan angles and of truncation to a single bit word length are examined. Phase distortions due to near field inhomogeneities are simulated using silicone rubber aberrators. Simulation studies addressing different factors affecting efficiency of the method, such as the number of iterations and the number of scan angles used for averaging, are presented. Images of a standard resolution phantom are reconstructed and used for qualitative testing