Virtual Ultrasound Transducer Control for Telemedicine, An Application of Flexible MEMS Arrays

"Sensant Corp intends to investigate the use of microfabricated ultrasonic transducers to enhance paramedical triage. Sensant Corp believes that recent improvements in transducer technology now enable the realization of a flexible patch composed of a 2dimensional matrix of ultrasonic elements. Such a patch, when combined with the appropriate processing hardware and algorithms, would allow remotely located specialists to arrive at diagnoses and recommended courses of action for injured soldiers on farforward echelons. The recent application of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to ultrasonic devices has created an advanced ultrasonic sensor with significant advantages over conventional piezoelectric transducers. These new ultrasonicsensor with significant advantages over conventional piezoelectric transducers. These new ultrasonic transducers are fabricated in the same manner as a silicon chip using a technique known as micromaching. A flexible assembly of rigid transducer tileswould allow the remote specialist to virtually manipulate the transducer, and thus obtain necessary triage information. For this research, Sensant will build a prototype transducer tile capable of 3-D imaging. Tangible deliverables would include aprototype tile packaged on a flexible circuit, and images of phantoms taken with such a prototype transducer. Sensant would also deliver a detailed performance specification for the imaging syste