MI - Ultrasound - Lec 2

Objectives
• To highlight the physics of Ultrasound.
• Explain to students the basics of Ultrasound Imaging
• To introduce key concepts to understand Ultrasound Imaging.

What is sound?
• Mechanical and Longitudinal waves can transfer

that distance using a media. a
• Cannot travel throughVacuum.
2
What is Sound?
• Sound is propagated through a mechanical movement of
a particle through compression and rarefaction that is
propagated through the neighbor particles depending on the
density and elasticity of the material in the medium.
What is Sound?
• Sound waves propagate mechanical energy causing periodic
vibration of particles in a continuous, elastic medium.
What is Ultrasound?
• Ultrasound is the term that describes sound waves of
frequencies exceeding the range of human hearing and
their propagation in a medium.
• The upper limit of hearing : about

20[kHz]
• Over the upper limit = Ultrasound ?
• Application to diagnosis
– Frequency : 2MHz – 10MHz
Ultrasound
• Ultrasound or ultrasonography is a medical
imaging technique that uses high frequency
sound waves and their echoes.
• Known as a ‘pulse echo technique’
• The technique is similar to the echolocation used

by bats, whales and dolphins, as well as SONAR
used by submarines etc.
Ultrasound
In ultrasound, the following events happen:
1. The ultrasound machine transmits high-frequency (1 to 12
megahertz) sound pulses into the body using a probe.
2. The sound waves travel into the body and hit a boundary
between tissues (e.g. between fluid and soft tissue, soft tissue
and bone).
3. Some of the sound waves reflect back to the probe,
while some travel on further until they reach another
boundary and then reflect back to the probe .
4. The reflected waves are detected by the probe and relayed to
the machine.
Ultrasound
5. The machine calculates the distance from the probe to the

tissue or organ (boundaries) using the speed of sound
in tissue and the time of the each echo's return (usually
on the order of millionths of
a second).
6. The machine displays the distances and intensities of
the echoes on the screen, forming
a two dimensional image.
Ultrasound
• The fundamental equation of ultrasound is:
d=
ct
2
where: d = distance of the reflecting object
from the source/detector of
ultrasound;
c = speed of the
ultrasound;
t = round-trip time of the pulse,
Basic Ultrasound Physics
Amplitude
Velocity
Wavelengt
h
Frequency
1
Velocity
• Speed at which a sound wave travels through

a medium(cm/sec)
• Determined by density and stiffness of media
– Slowest in air/gas
– Fastest in solids
1
Velocity
Near Field Imaging Far Field Imaging
Tissues closer appear Tissues further appear

on top and faster the at the bottom &
waves return slower the waves
return 7
Frequency
• Number of cycles per second

• Units are Hertz
• Ultrasound imaging frequency range 2-
10Mhz
1
3
Frequency
Low the freq higher the penetration and lower the resolution
Higher the freq Lower the penetration and Higher the resolution
14
Wavelength
• Distance over which one cycle occurs
1
5
Velocity (V), frequency (Ƒ),& Wavelength (Λ)
• Given a constant velocity, as frequency increases

wavelength decreases
V=ƒλ
1
6
Amplitude
• The strength/intensity of a sound wave at any

given time
• Represented as height of the wave
• Decreases with increasing depth
1
7
Amplitude
Defines the Brightness of the
image
Irrespective of the Freq the Amp remains

constant
The Higher the Amp the brighter the image 1
and the lower the more darker the images 8
Physics of ultrasound
• Important concepts in production of an U/S
image:
• Propagation velocity
• Acoustic impedance
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Attenuation
Propagation Velocity
• Sound is energy transmitted through a medium-
• Each medium has a constant
velocity of sound (c)
• Product of frequency (f) and wavelength (λ)
c=fλ
• Frequency and Wavelength therefore are inversely
proportional- if the frequency increases the
wavelength must decrease.
• Ultrasound wavelength is determined by the
frequency and the speed of sound in the
propagation medium.
• Ultrasound wavelength
determines the spatial
resolution achievable
along the direction of
the beam.
• A high-frequency ultrasound beam provides superior
resolution and image detail
– However, the depth of beam penetration is reduced at higher
frequency.
• Lower frequency ultrasound has less resolution, but a
greater penetration depth.
• Ultrasound frequencies selected for imaging are
determined by the imaging application.
– For thick body parts (e.g., abdominal imaging), a lower
frequency ultrasound wave is used (3.5 to 5 MHz) to image
structures at significant depths,
– for small body parts or organs close to the skin surface (e.g.,
thyroid, breast), a higher frequency is employed (7.5 to 10
MHz).
• Propagation velocity is dependent
– Tissue’s resistance to
compression (density or stiffness)
• The speed (c) of the ultrasound wave through tissue
is determined by the tissue density (p) and
compressibility
(k) values:
• the more rigid the tissue and or/less dense the

tissue, the higher the ultrasound propagation velocity
• Acoustic properties of biological
tissues
• The average speed of sound in human tissue is 1540 metres/second.

Example 1
• For example, if an echo is detected from a reflector in human
soft tissue in 0.065 ms (0.000065 sec). How far is the
reflector from the transducer.
Given, v= 154om/s
t=0.065msec
d=vxt
• Distance = 1540
metres/sec x
0.000065 sec
• Distance = 0.1
metres
= 10
cm
• If the sound has travelled 10 cm from the transducer to the
Example 2
What is a wavelength of a beam that travels through a soft a
tissue with a frequency of 2-MHz?
Soln:
Acoustic Impedance
• Acoustic impedance (z) of a material is the product of
its density and propagation velocity
Z= pc
• Differences in acoustic impedance create reflective

interfaces that echo the u/s waves back at the probe
• Impedance mismatch = ΔZ
Acoustic Impedance
• Homogeneous mediums reflect no sound
• acoustic interfaces create visual boundaries between different
tissues.
• Bone/tissue or air/tissue interfaces with large Δz values
reflect almost all the sound
• Muscle/fat interfaces with smaller Δz values reflect only
part
of the energy
Exercise
Solution
Reflection
• The production of echoes at reflecting
interfaces between tissues of differing
physical properties.
• Specular - large smooth surfaces

• Diffuse – small interfaces or nooks and crannies
Reflection and Transmission
Reflection and Transmission coefficients
When an incident plane wave, with

amplitude pi, travelling through a
medium with acoustic impedance
Z1 hits a boundary with a second
material of impedance Z2 there is
in general both a reflected wave pr
and a transmitted wave pt:
Significance of reflection coefficients
• Too little reflection is bad. pr / pi → 0

 Useful images occur only where there is a
difference in acoustic impedance.
 Tissues with strikingly different properties in other respects
may have similar acoustic impedances hence the two tissues
will not be delineated from each other.
• Too much reflection is bad. pr / pi → ±1

 If difference in acoustic impedance is too high,
then virtually all the incident ultrasound will be reflected.
This means that the boundary is opaque to ultrasound.
 The organ in question will show up very brightly, but there
is an inability to see through it to find out what is
underneath
Implications
• No ultrasound images of brain in vivo;
skull reflects ultrasound.

• Images of the heart have to be taken “round” the ribs,
which are also opaque.
• Finding the right “window” into the body is important.

Acoustic Impedance
 The ultrasound transducer must be “coupled” to the
body using a special gel. Before an ultrasound scan, a thin
layer of
gel is smeared onto the skin. Why?
• The material from which transducers are made has
a very different acoustic impedance Ztransducer to that
of the body Ztissue and more importantly that of air Zair.
• These large “mis-matches”
between Ztransducer and Ztissue
and between Ztransducer and Zair mean that the reflection
coefficients at these interfaces are close to -1.
(a) (b) “Matching” gel
Transducer Soft Tissue Transducer Soft Tissue
pi pi
pt
pt
pr pr
λ/
|pt| << |pr| 4 |pt| >> |pr|
Fig (a) A large degree of reflection occurs at the interface

between the ultrasound transducer and soft tissue.
(b) If the correct thickness of an appropriate material is
built into the probe, much improved transmission can be
obtained.
Attenuation
• The intensity of sound waves diminish as they
travel through a medium
• In real systems some waves are scattered and others
are absorbed, or reflected
• Some of the energy is transferred to the tissue
in the form of heat.
Attenuation
• This decrease in intensity (loss of amplitude) is called
attenuation
• Attenuation is characterized by an exponential decrease in
both the pressure and intensity of the ultrasound beam
as a function of its propagation distance, z, through tissue
• Attenuation causes low resolution of echo

image.
Solution
Next class: Instrumentation of Ultrasound

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Objectives

• To highlight the physics of Ultrasound.

• Explain to students the basics of Ultrasound Imaging

• To introduce key concepts to understand Ultrasound Imaging.

• Mechanical and Longitudinal waves can transfer

• The upper limit of hearing : about

• Known as a ‘pulse echo technique’

• The technique is similar to the echolocation used

5. The machine calculates the distance from the probe to the

• The fundamental equation of ultrasound is:

• Speed at which a sound wave travels through

Near Field Imaging Far Field Imaging

Tissues closer appear Tissues further appear

• Number of cycles per second

• Distance over which one cycle occurs

• Given a constant velocity, as frequency increases

• The strength/intensity of a sound wave at any

Irrespective of the Freq the Amp remains

• the more rigid the tissue and or/less dense the

• The average speed of sound in human tissue is 1540 metres/second.

• Differences in acoustic impedance create reflective

• Specular - large smooth surfaces

When an incident plane wave, with

• Too little reflection is bad. pr / pi → 0

• Too much reflection is bad. pr / pi → ±1

skull reflects ultrasound.

• Finding the right “window” into the body is important.

Transducer Soft Tissue Transducer Soft Tissue

Fig (a) A large degree of reflection occurs at the interface

• Attenuation causes low resolution of echo

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