Rician Beamforming: Despeckle Method via Coarray Projection Stochastic Analysis

Abstract

Current computation capabilities normal, Delay and Sum (DAS) and Total Focusing Method (TFM) allow new definitions for beamformers. In this paper, a new beamforming method is proposed. It exploits diversity across pixel data after focusing process. The method is based on statistical analysis and sparse array concept. It avoids common aberrations introduced by beamforming process without loosing the original image texture, producing a better quality image. We evaluate the proposed method through simulation on standard phantoms. Images resulting from our novel method display better quality and provide localised estimations on image noise.

Keywords

• sparse arrays
• rician beamformer
• ultrasonic imaging
• space diversity