Simulation of digital scan conversion for ultrasound systems using a digital signal processor

Abstract

B-mode ultrasound systems use digital scan conversion (DSC) to display data in a Cartesian coordinate system acquired in a polar coordinate format. Image quality depends on the quality of the interpolation algorithm applied to the unsampled pixels to avoid artefacts. In this paper, a warped distance-based adaptive bilinear interpolation technique with selective sampling is proposed and has been successfully simulated using a Texas Instruments (TI) digital signal processor series TMS320C64x+ cycle accurate simulator. The algorithm enhances both the detail in the different regions as well as preserving the smooth regions within the image, yielding better image quality with less computational complexity. Optimized implementation of the algorithm supports software pipelining. Additionally, the approach speeds up the computation by utilizing the ability of very long instruction word processor to perform multiple operations in parallel. The experimental results show that the DSC is capable of supporting 83 frames per second without sacrificing the image quality for a raw input image of size, 512 × 256 scanned with an angle of 58° and output video graphics array (640 × 480) display.