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Samplify Systems, Inc. has given a boost to medical-electronics domain experts with the introduction of its new SMK9130 ultrasound beam-forming development kit.

Based on Samplify's AutoFocus beam-forming technology, the SMK9130 is a hardware development tool for the ultrasound front end, from probe connector to PCIe connector. The development kit allows medical-equipment OEMs to focus more closely on their core image-processing algorithms to speed development of new machines by up to 12 months, Samplify reports.

The AutoFocus beam-forming technology embodied in the SMK9130 enables ultrasound OEMs to implement customized and differentiated algorithms while simplifying software and system design and speeding time to market across a range of systems-from ultra-low power hand-held machines through laptop hand-carried machines and on to entry-level and mid-range carts. The AutoFocus calculation engine automatically refocuses a receiver to capture reflections at different scan depths.

AutoFocus alleviates the real-time requirement of calculating and downloading the delay and weighting coefficients in a back-end computer, thus simplifying software and system design. Programmable tables drive transducer geometry definitions and scan-line parameters, further removing the real-time nature of back-end computer updates while providing beam-former implementation flexibility to the OEM. Silicon implementation of the new beam former will consume up to 90% less power versus an FPGA, Samplify says.

Samplify's SMK9130 allows ultrasound OEMs to start developing their image-processing algorithms with known-good hardware in advance of the availability of their production systems to reduce software-development and system integration-time.

"The ultrasound market continues to fragment into many specialty applications outside of traditional radiology and OB/GYN," said Allan Evans, VP of marketing for Samplify. "The differentiator for these machines is not in the hardware, but in image-processing algorithms. Samplify is enabling ultrasound manufacturers to focus their R&D resources on their core image processing algorithms without the burden of designing hardware from scratch."

"Time to market for a new ultrasound machine can take years due to the difficulty of isolating the source of image artifacts to the analog, beam forming, or software domains during system integration and clinical trials," said Daniel Kreindler, director of Medical Marketing for Samplify. "The only way ultrasound OEMs can evaluate the performance of their analog-front-end beam-forming algorithm and image processing, is to look at a final image."

The SMK9130 is a complete 64-channel ultrasound front-end platform. It includes one each of SMM9132 and SMM9133, 32-channel ultrasound AFE receiver modules for full continuous-wave Doppler (CWD) capability. The company's AutoFocus beam-forming technology and QuadBeam phased-array processing combine the received signals from each channel to provide four scan-line outputs for each transmission.

Tri-level pulsers and a transmit beam former support transmission for all black-and-white and color modes. The platform also includes a continuously variable power supply for the high-voltage path. The system supports post processing with an interface to a PC host via USB 2.0 or 4xPCIe 1.1. Samplify provides a Windows software driver to control all the hardware and an image-processing stack for generating images. The software is forward compatible with future ASIC and module products from the company.

The SMK9130 will be available in the first quarter of 2011. Price is $60,000, with additional pricing options to support volumes for clinical trials and production.

Samplify will demonstrate the SMK9130 development kit at the 2010 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Exhibition at the McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, from November 28 through December 3, 2010.

Source: Samplify Systems Inc

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