Essentials of Ultrasound Imaging is an introduction to all aspects of acquiring and measuring pulse-echo data to form images. The book provides in-depth exploration of key physical processes, including wave propagation and interaction with physical media, piezoelectric transducers, arrays, and beam formation, and concludes with a survey of advanced topics in ultrasound. Uniquely, principles are revealed by examples from software simulation programs designed to demonstrate ultrasound concepts, and image and signal processing. There are also numerous examples from a Verasonics Vantage Research Ultrasound System to provide unparalleled insight into each step of ultrasound image creation, including signal processing, transducer operation, different types of beamforming, and image formation. The content is organized around a central functional block diagram which is, in turn, related to physical processes and processing involved in clinical and research imaging systems. With a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of physics and methods of ultrasound imaging, readers can better appreciate the introduction of advanced topics and various applications of ultrasound.

• Gives an understanding of wave propagation, piezoelectric transducers, beam focusing, Doppler imaging of fluid flow, types of ultrasound systems, and real-time image formation and resolution
• Explains basic mathematical and scientific concepts underlying ultrasound imaging and physics
• Follows the passage of pulse-echo waveforms through the changes made by wave propagation, array beam formation, absorption, and system processing to image formation
• Describes the concepts written in MATLAB® that are illustrated by numerous examples from unique simulations of physics, processing, and imaging and from experiments and signals within an ultrasound research system
• Presents an accompanying simulator software package, in executable form, designed to demonstrate concepts with minimal mathematical background, together with a curriculum of hands-on experiments using an ultrasound research system, both available from Verasonics