A GPU-based real-time spatial coherence imaging system
Advanced ultrasonic beamforming techniques are often computationally intensive and difficult to implement in real-time. GPU computing has become a vital tool for software beamforming because of its massive parallel computing capabilities. However, GPU-based software beamforming has not yet been integrated into a real-time imaging system. We have recently introduced short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) imaging as a coherence-based beamforming technique that is more robust to clutter than conventional B-mode imaging. The algorithm is computationally expensive, and has been limited to offline processing to date. By combining SLSC beamforming on the GPU with a Verasonics ultrasound scanner, we have realized a real-time side-by-side B-mode and SLSC imaging system capable of achieving up to 6 frames per second (fps). We demonstrate the system's real-time capabilities with phantom and in vivo scans, and briefly examine the relative performance of B-mode and SLSC imaging. © 2013 SPIE.
