What is it?

Non-destructive testing and imaging ultrasound modalities have been around since the ’50s. More and more ultrasound-based initiative are emerging, mostly focusing on image processing - while the hardware has been left behind. Several teams have produced successful designs for the different possible uses, mostly efforts from research laboratories. Most have been used on commercial US scanners, traditionally used as experiment platforms, but they are not cheap, and yield very little in terms of data access and control. Others have been developed in labs, but, sadly, very few have been open-sourced. This particular project stems from the un0rick, a fpga based design.

It has also been shown that simple (be it low-power, low-cost and small) can be achieved - and this, even for relatively complex systems, based on 16 to 64 parallel channels front-end processing and software back-end processing (embedded PC or DSP). This makes it a bit more complex for the layman, hobbyist, or non-specialist researcher to use, not to mention the very little information that is accessible.

This system

This pulse-echo system is made of 3 boards: A single-channel ultrasound receive board with a fast ADC (up to 100Msps) A +-24 voltage supply board * A high voltage bipolar pulser

It does not come with headers/connectors.. you have to pick your choice for these.

Previous work

This element has been built as part of a kit, which is composed of :

• The main board is equipped with a 60Msps, 10bit ADC. Front end is protected against high-voltage pulses, and features a proven time-gain compensation system consisting in a AD8331 (7.5 dB to 55.5dB) with a controlling (MCP4812) SPI DAC.
• The single row PMOD connector can plug to the Pulser board, which can be equipped with a simple +-25V generation board. Together, they generate the pulse on behalf of the pic0rick main board. The setup can generate three-level pulses ( with a pair of MD1210 + TC6320 ).
• The double row PMOD connector can be used for virtually anything. We have used it in some cases for a VGA to be connected, which displays acquisitions from the board.

Headers are not included! (nor is the RPi W)

Overall description

What does it look like?

Example of acquisition

Example of output to VGA (requires separate VGA connector)

Why did you make it?

Nothing existed yet! Then the FPGA board is now a couple of years old, components got obsolete, so anticipating the next gen devices.

What makes it special?

Nothing similar had been done so far with the rpi pico series.

Documentation

Repo for the documentation (hardware/software) is on github

With some documentation to be released.

Shipping

• Now that the board design is stabilized, it's being produced by MacroFab - which does the fulfillment.
• Attention: The board comes without headers/jumpers/SMA/RPi .. up to you to put yours!
• Beware of the taxes: the UPS/DHL courier may ask import taxes, depending on your country, as it is shipped from the US.

Disclaimer

This project is distributed WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Also:

• This is not a medical ultrasound scanner! It’s a development kit that can be used for pedagogical and academic purposes - possible immediate use as a non-destructive testing (NDT) tool, for example in metallurgical crack analysis.
• As in all electronics, be careful, especially with high voltages.
• This is a learning by doing project, I never did something related -> It’s all but a finalized product.
• Ultrasound raises questions. In case you build a scanner, use caution and good sense!
• In all cases, I can and will help you work with the pic0rick boards, but I can't and won't teach you how to use and program a pico.