Technologies available for licence
Low cost ultrasound device
Quote Ref: KT101238
Keywords: low cost ultrasound, sonar technology, portable device
Of Interest To: Companies/organisations developing existing or new technologies for ultrasound imaging.
The Problem: researchers at Newcastle University have been working on developing a very low cost medical ultrasound scanning device, drawing upon many years of innovation in sonar signal processing. Current ‘top-end’ ultrasound devices have a price range of £20,000-£100,000, whilst the ‘low-end’ devices are priced around £5,000. There is a real need throughout the world for much lower cost technology and the aim of this work has been to create a product of similar cost and complexity to pocket Doppler heart rate monitors and hence enable the use of ultrasound imaging in applications or regions of the world where it is currently cost prohibitive.
The Solution: in order to achieve the target price, the device needs to have a low manufacturing cost which places constraints on the component costs. Hence the design philosophy has been to use the minimum possible hardware in the scanning head and connect to any available PC (via USB) to perform signal/image processing and display. Furthermore, the construction of multichannel phased array transducers would far exceed the target cost and so a single transducer element is used. To minimise the cost of electronic circuitry and produce high resolution images from a single fixed focus transducer, several innovative sonar signal processes have been applied. Echo data is gathered as the transducer is manually scanned back and forth across the skin and the PC then performs the focusing and other operations to generate an image up to 3 times per second. In the current prototype the ultrasound frequency and scan dimensions have been chosen to match that of convex array scanners typically used for obstetrics and general abdominal imaging but the parameters could be adapted to suit other applications.
The Opportunity: below we see the comparison of images from high end phased array scanners costing £50,000 – £100,000 (on the left) with similar images generated from the latest prototype for the low cost device (on the right). The first two images are from a 25 week fetal phantom with some anatomical features (such as skull and ventricles). The third image is from a contrast/resolution phantom with point targets (nylon wires) and circular regions of varying contrast in a background which simulates liver tissue. Images compare favourably even before any image post processing (non-linear contrast scaling or speckle filtering) has been applied and enhancements in signal-to-noise ratio, contrast etc are ongoing through improvements in circuitry, software and transducer construction.
The University is seeking collaborative and/or licence opportunities with a suitable industrial partner who can take the next steps of commercializing the technology.
Cross section of head showing ventricles (from high end phased array scanner)
Similar view from low cost ultrasound
Profile of face and head
Similar view from low cost ultrasound
Resolution/contrast phantom (liver tissue)
Similar view from low cost ultrasound
Real human liver and hepatic veins
Similar view from low cost ultrasound
Position: the technology is based around know-how and novel processing technology.
Contact: Dr Jayshree Kerai, Science, Agriculture & Engineering Enterprise Team, Research and Enterprise Services, First Floor, Devonshire Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. Phone +44 (0) 191 246 4889
E-mail: Jayshree.Kerai@ncl.ac.uk