Communications – electrical: acoustic wave systems and devices – Echo systems – Distance or direction finding
Patent
1993-03-26
1995-02-07
Lobo, Ian J.
Communications, electrical: acoustic wave systems and devices
Echo systems
Distance or direction finding
12866101, G01S 1500, A61B 800
Patent
active
053880790
ABSTRACT:
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, advantage is taken by the inventors of the fact that the speed of operation of the digital hardware in a digital beamformer can be reduced by providing, for example, multiple phases of the data signals and then processing the multi-phase data in N parallel summing paths. An interpolation-decimation filter receives the multi-phase data from the N parallel summing paths and provides at its output a signal having a reduced data rate (1/N). In accordance with this technique, the speed of operation of the individual digital circuits for forming the required beamforming delays is not increased as compared to conventional post-beamforming interpolation schemes, so that hereby the effective data rate is increased by a factor N and results in a decrease of the delay quantization error by a factor N. In accordance with the principles of the invention, the interpolation-decimation filter is incorporated into the beamformer at a most advantageous place. That is, it is incorporated into the beamformer processing after partial beamforming of a group of receive channels and before formation of the final beam. This approach allows the final beamforming to be simple and performed at a relatively low data rate and allows the higher rate signal processing to be confined to circuitry which may advantageously be on a single type of integrated circuit which is repetitively used in the beamformer.
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Banjanin Zoran
Fukukita Hiroshi
Hagiwara Hisashi
Kawabuchi Masami
Kim Jin
Lobo Ian J.
Siemens Medical Systems Inc.
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