Accurate calibration is a requirement of many array signal processing techniques. We investigate the calibration of a transducer array using time delays. We derive a strategy based on the mean square error criterion and discuss how time delays that are not available can be interpolated from existing ones. The proposed method is made robust to noise and model mismatch by means of a novel iterative technique for distance matrix denoising. The convergence of the method is proved. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed calibration algorithm is assessed both in simulated scenarios and using experimental data obtained from an ultrasound scanner designed for breast cancer detection.

Date Published: 25 March 2011
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 7968, Medical Imaging 2011: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy, 796806 (25 March 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.877459

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7968:
Medical Imaging 2011: Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy
Jan D'hooge; Marvin M. Doyley, Editor(s)