Multifunctional ultrasound systems and methods for body section registration and mapping of microbubble dynamics. A system is provided that includes one or more micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays (MUTAs) configured to capture a high-resolution image of at least a portion of a body section using ultrasound and monitor microbubble activity during ultrasound treatment. The system includes an image registration module configured to spatially register the high-resolution image with a reference image. The system includes electronics configured to control one or more of drive signal amplitude, frequency filtering, multiplexing, and DC bias voltage. The system can be configured to control ultrasound treatment based on the monitoring of the microbubble activity during treatment.

In the acoustic object extraction device, beam forming processing units generate a first acoustic signal by beam forming in an arrival direction of a signal from an acoustic object with respect to a microphone array and generate a second acoustic signal by beam forming in an arrival direction of a signal from the acoustic object with respect to a microphone array, and a common component extraction unit extracts, on the basis of a similarity between the spectrum of the first acoustic signal and the spectrum of the second acoustic signal and from the first acoustic signal and the second acoustic signal, a signal containing a common component corresponding to the acoustic object. The common component extraction unit divides the spectrums of the first acoustic signal and the second acoustic signal into a plurality of frequency sections and calculates a similarity for each of the frequency sections.

A digital transmit beamformer for an ultrasound system has a waveform sample memory which stores sequences of samples of different pulse transmit waveforms of differing pulse widths. The memory is shared by a plurality of transmit channels, each of which can access its own selected sample sequence, independent of the selections by other channels. Waveform sample readout by the channels occurs substantially simultaneously during a transmit event, producing a transmit beam from a transmit aperture with different pulse waveforms applied to different elements of the transmit aperture. Higher energy waveforms with wider pulse widths are applied to central elements of the aperture and lower energy waveforms with narrower pulse widths are applied to lateral elements of the aperture to produce an apodized transmit beam.

Method for producing ripened hard or semi-hard cheese comprising the steps of: i) arranging one or more unripened cheese wheels (2) comprising phosphoproteins and lactic bacteria in a maturation environment (10); ii) providing at least one electro-acoustic transducer (6) configured to generate sound waves (4) in the maturation environment (10), at a time-varying frequency and at a sound pressure comprised in the range from 50-100 dB.sub.SPL; iii) for a treatment time, stimulating the at least one cheese wheel (2) of step i) with said sound waves (4) to accelerate a proteolysis of phosphoproteins by lactic bacteria; (iv) ripening the cheese wheel (2) for a ripening time to obtain a ripened cheese wheel (2). The present invention also regards a cheese wheel obtained using such method, and a production system.

A method includes receiving from multiple transducers respective signals including reflections of a transmitted signal from a target. An image of the target is produced irrespective of sparsity of the received signals, by computing transducer-specific frequency-domain coefficients for each of the received signals, deriving, from the transducer-specific frequency-domain coefficients, beamforming frequency-domain coefficients of a beamformed signal in which the reflections received from a selected direction relative to the transducers are emphasized, and reconstructing the image of the target at the selected direction based on the beamforming frequency-domain coefficients.

An acoustic transducer system for ultrasonic imaging may include an array of sub-wavelength ultrasonic transducer elements; at least one electromagnetically resonant element with an electromagnetic resonance within the electromagnetic frequency band coupled to each of the sub-wavelength ultrasonic transducer elements; at least one electromagnetically resonant element with an electromagnetic resonance within the electromagnetic frequency band coupled to each of the sub wavelength ultrasonic transducer elements; an electromagnetic transmission module configured to modify one or more characteristics of transmitted electromagnetic energy to effectuate an acoustic emission by the array of sub-wavelength transducer elements according to an acoustic transmission pattern corresponding to the respective electromagnetic resonance characteristics of at least some of the electromagnetically resonant elements coupled to the sub-wavelength ultrasonic transducer elements; and a common port configured to facilitate electromagnetic communication with each of the electromagnetically resonant elements coupled to the sub-wavelength transducer elements.

Sonar systems and related methods are provided. A sonar system includes a transducer array having a transverse axis and a longitudinal axis disposed perpendicularly thereto. A processor is operative to associate signals with a plurality of transducers in the transducer array so as to form a first acoustic beam, which propagates in a beam first direction and has a first beam width in a first transverse plane. The first transverse plane extends along the beam first direction and contains the transverse axis of the transducer array. A beam spreading device having a curved surface is positioned relative to the transducer array such that the first acoustic beam impinges on the curved surface. Following impingement on the curved surface, the first acoustic beam propagates in a beam second direction and has a second beam width in a second transverse plane. The second beam width is greater than the first beam width.

A transducer assembly comprises a housing and a plurality of frequency steered transducer array elements. Each of the transducer array elements includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements. The frequency steered transducer array elements are configured to receive a transmit electronic signal including a plurality of frequency components and to transmit an array of sonar beams into a body of water. Each sonar beam is transmitted in an angular direction that varies according to one of the frequency components of the transmit electronic signal. The frequency steered transducer array elements are positioned within the housing in a fan-shaped configuration where an end section of at least two of the frequency steered transducer array elements are within an intersection range of each other.

In some examples, received signals from certain multilines may be selectively filtered to remove aliased frequencies that may result in grating lobes in ultrasound images. In some examples, a transmit beam may be shaped to reduce spatial frequencies in received signals. In some examples, the width of the transmit beam may be adjusted based on a frequency of the transmit signal. In some examples, a focal depth of the transmit beam may be adjusted based on a frequency of the transmit signal.

An ultrasound system comprising a probe adapted for emitting and receiving ultrasound waves inside a medium, and a processing unit connected to said probe and adapted for processing signals from the probe. The probe is configured so as to behave as a Fresnel lens for focusing the ultrasound waves. The processing unit analyses signals from the probe for sensing the medium at a plurality of focal points.