1024-Channel Single 5W FPGA Towards High-quality Portable 3D Ultrasound Platform

Volumetric Ultrasound (US) imaging is an emerging tech- nology for medical US applications. Typically, US imaging is 2D, where a number of vibrating elements, arranged in an array, are used to scan 2D cross-sections of the human body. In volumetric US a matrix probe of vibrating elements is used instead of the array, where conical volumes are reconstructed instead of 2D cross-sections. Today, cardiology and obstetrics are the most benefiting applications from 3D imaging, where better assessment of chamber volumes, and more expressive imaging are provided, respectively. 3D US allows the imaging of entire volumes using a single scan, unlike in 2D imaging, where multiple slices should be acquired precisely by a trained sonographer to be able to diagnose the entire structure. As a result, 3D US imaging speeds up the acquisition time, and eliminates the dependency on the presence of a trained operator during the scan. These characteristics make 3D US ideal for situations where the presence of a trained sonographer is an issue and the need to speed up the acquisition time is paramount, such as battlefields and rescue environments. How- ever, todays 3D systems [1] are bulky, expensive, and power hungry because the processing load of 3D US is orders of magnitude higher compared to conventional 2D imaging. For this reason, 3D systems are currently only available in well- equipped hospitals, and not in rural areas and underdeveloped regions where even electricity supply is an issue.