A system and method are provided for controlling an ultrasound probe having a transducer array of transducer elements. The method includes receiving echo signals at the transducer elements reflected in near and/or far fields of a medium, and outputting electrical echo signals; digitizing the electrical echo signals; multiplexing the digitized echo signals to output a first set of the digitized echo signals corresponding to a first set of transducer elements of the plurality of transducer elements defining a small aperture for receiving the echo signals reflected in the near field; grouping transducer elements of a second set of transducer elements into sub-arrays providing a second set of digitized echo signals; summing together the digitized echo signals from the second set of the transducer elements within each sub-array for receiving echo signals reflected in the far field, wherein the second set of transducer elements contains more transducer elements than the first set of the transducer elements; and outputting an echo data stream including the first and/or second sets of the digitized echo signals to a host system via a communication interface having a fixed maximum bandwidth.

An ultrasound imaging system includes an array of acoustic elements and a processor circuit configured for communication with the array of acoustic elements. The processor circuit may be configured to control the array of acoustic elements to transmit first ultrasound energy at a first frequency and receive echoes associated with the first ultrasound energy. The processor circuit may be configured to identify an acoustic window based on the echoes associated with the first ultrasound energy and determine a second frequency based on the acoustic window. The processor circuit may be configured to control the array of acoustic elements to transmit second ultrasound energy at the second frequency and receive echoes associated with the second ultrasound energy. The processor circuit may be configured to generate an image based on the echoes associated with the second ultrasound energy and to output the image to a display in communication with the processor circuit.