Originally Published EMDM March/April
2002
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
ELECTRONICSUltrasound Engine Speeds Time to Market
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| The AN2300 digital ultrasound engine from Analogic Corp. contains all the equipment required to acquire, process, and convert ultrasound information. |
A flexible ultrasound engine combines several components into a single unit that can be integrated into OEM equipment. Marketed by Analogic Corp. (Peabody, MA, USA), the new AN2300 ultrasound engine streamlines product design by incorporating all the equipment necessary to acquire, process, and convert ultrasound information. "This engine helps OEMs get their products to market quickly by providing 90% of the equipment needed to make any ultrasound system," explains OEM sales and marketing manager Axel Wirth. It also facilitates the integration of the remaining 10% of materials that define the end-user device, he adds. Adaptation to specific applications is achieved through the addition of transducers, clinical software applications, displays, user interfaces, and other elements. "The system is particularly useful for companies that can't afford to develop a complete digital ultrasound unit on their own," explains Wirth.
The PC-based AN2300 engine is suited for cardiology, general radiology, and breast imaging, among other applications. Special beam formers use a broadband spline-interpolation filter capable of synthesizing up to 256 receiving channels. Compatible imaging methods include parallel-beam processing, harmonic receiving, beam steering, spectral Doppler, color flow, and triplex modes. A software interface allows developers to program the system in a Windows NT environment without detailed knowledge of the engine's hardware.
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