Compound Scanning with a Phased Array

Compound scans made with a dynamically focussed phased array system have been produced in real time. The scanner, intended for abdominal imaging, has a large field of view. The compounding improves the acquisition of echoes from specular targets by changing the orientation of the insonifying beam and also reduces the speckle noise in grey scale images. These gains are achieved while maintaining the high resolution and flexibility of a computer controlled phased array sector scanner. The configuration of the compound scanner is described, and in vivo abdominal scans are presented.