Strain estimation with center frequency correction and reliable displacement selection

For the strain (change in thickness) estimation method that we had been using, we have to estimate the displacements of many target points. When we use a correlation based method to estimate the displacements in the human body, accurate strain estimation is difficult. One of the reasons is the change in the center frequency and the amplitude of the RF echo due to the frequency dependent attenuation and the interference of reflected waves from scattering sources in the living body. In this paper, we propose a new strain estimation method that has advantage over the previous method and check the validity of the new method experimentally using an artery-mimicking phantom.