An Efficient SoC Dedicated to Ultrasonic Digital Imaging Systems

This paper concerns a new design method for a system on a chip (SOC) dedicated to ultrasonic digital imaging systems (UDIS). This design method allow for the creation of a new generation of miniaturized and portable ultrasonic machines, where the electronic components will be integrated on only one single chip. It also make possible to visualize in real time the ultrasound images. An ultrasound imaging is a common and popular technique to evaluate, in a noninvasive way and in real time, the internal anatomy structure and its function. It requires high resolution and real-time images processing. The proposed design core efficiently integrates all of the necessary ultrasonic B-mode processing modules. It includes digital beamforming, quadrature demodulation of RF signals, digital filtering and envelope detection of the received signals. This system handles 128 scan lines and 6400 samples per scan line with a 90deg angle of view span. The design uses a minimum size look-up memory to store the initial scan information. Rapid prototyping using an ARM/FPGA combination is used to validate the operation of the described system