High-speed data transfer architecture in modular ultrasound systems for 3-D high frame rate imaging

Recent advances in 3-D imaging using 2-D probes emphasize the need for independent control of thousands of transducer elements and the ability to manage data transfer rates reaching hundreds of Gbit/s. This work introduces the firmware and software architecture of a modular ultrasound system, tailored to meet the demands of 3-D high frame rate imaging by leveraging fast data streaming between 64-channel front-end modules (FEMs) and the system back-end (BE) through optical links. Functional tests performed with a 256-channel system prototype have shown that each FEM can transmit data with a bandwidth of 40 Gbit/s. On the software side, the use of the PF_RING library in ZeroCopy mode enables reliable data reception exceeding 75 Gbit/s per network interface card without loss. Additionally, an optimized memory allocation strategy ensures fast and efficient data processing and storage. Preliminary real-time plane wave B-mode imaging tests achieved frame rates of 60 frames per second.