Tools of the Trade: Acertara’s ATLAS System

24x7mag.com/2019/08/acertaras-atlas-ultrasound-probe-test-system/

Product News
Published on August 30, 2019

Longmont, Colo.-based Acertara Acoustic Laboratories has designed the ATLAS system as
a scalable, high-speed, portable, high-precision ultrasound probe and array testing
device— intended for contemporary probe and multi-element array technologies,
including 2D matrix arrays.

It was once necessary to have a room filled with numerous daisy-chained, rack-mounted
technical equipment operated by a PhD acoustic physicist to test and analyze the
essential acoustic and electrical performance parameters of an ultrasound probe; now it
only requires a single, small tabletop device. In fact, ATLAS weighs just 12.5 pounds and
stands 43cm x 36cm x 11cm.

Moreover, when connected to a laptop computer, ATLAS runs a complete probe test and
analysis in less than 30 seconds. Further, the ATLAS test system hardware and software
were designed with flexibility, expandability, and customization in mind. Both the
functional hardware and software are composed of operational modules (e.g., daughter-
board hardware) containing various acoustic testing and analysis functions.

This modular design approach allows easy customization of the final software package
by including or excluding modules that match specific customer requirements.

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Examples of array parameters that are tested include: element sensitivity, time-of-flight,
complex impedance, pulse length, ring-down, fractional bandwidth, crosstalk, insertion
loss, and various other acoustic and electrical parameters. User-defined
judgment/acceptance criteria for any array are defined in an acceptance script that may
be displayed, stored, and/or printed by the operator. And using a 408-pin ITT Canon
array electrical interface, ATLAS can adapt to nearly any ultrasound probe type or model.

Key Product Features

ATLAS has both unipolar and bipolar programmable pulsers that are highly
customizable. The capability to connect an external pulser is also provided. For matching
historic test results on existing test systems, substantially equivalent pulser excitation is
essential and is incorporated in this design. Additionally, the capability to measure the
complex impedance of an array element and interconnect wiring is provided.

Also, high-resolution software adjustment of RF Gain and transmit voltage supports

precise matching of test results unit-to-unit. Moreover, the results match unit-to-unit
within the following tolerance requirements:

Array average loop gain results must match within ± 0.6dB.

Array average pulse width results with a -20dB threshold must match within ±3%.
Center frequency results with a -6dB threshold must match within ±0.2MHz.
Bandwidth results with a -6dB threshold must match within ±3%.

Software information

ATLAS software runs on Windows 10 Professional, Windows 7 Professional, or Windows

XP Professional. Further, ATLAS software is developed and maintained using the
LabVIEW programming language, but is distributed as a native Windows executable
application. ATLAS software can also be user-customizable to accommodate proprietary
test parameters. Test results and reporting is provided via a PDF format.

Moreover, the test software provides the ability to save the results of any test.
Specifically, the results will be saved in a text file, and a test database index will allow for
convenient searches of previous test data and report generation from archived test data.

For more information regarding the ATLAS system, visit www.acertaralabs.com.

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