6. Technical Specification

6.1. Basic Composition

The us4R-lite™ device (with probe adapter)

  • PCIe, Model: RL-2024-PCIe:

    • 1x PCIe host adapter card

    • 2x PCIe cable

    • 1x power adapter AC/DC

  • Thunderbolt, Model: RL_2020:

    • 1x Thunderbolt cable

  • (optional) ultrasound probe

  • (optional) PC system controller with GPU cards

  • User Manual (on-line)

6.2. Technical data and Detailed specification

Transmit

Number of channels

256

Transmit frequency

1MHz to 20MHz (Model: RL-2020); 1MHz to 30MHz (Model: RL-2024-PCIe)

Tx time delay resolution

7.7 ns (for standard system clock of 130MHz)

Programmable TX voltage

up to 180Vpp (±90V)

TX pulsers levels

3 (Model: R), 3/5 (Model: R-2023 - depends on configuration)

Per-channel programmable

center frequency, pulse length, polarity and delay

TX function

Possibility of generating pseudo-arbitrary transmit waveforms

Pulse repetition frequency

up to 20kHz (depends on the other parameters and loading conditions)

Receive

Number of channels

64

Frequency range

up to 50MHz

Programmable anti-aliasing filter (cutoff)

10, 15, 20, 30, 35, 50 MHz

Amplifier gain

  • LNA with programmable gain: 24, 18, 12

  • Voltage-Controlled Attenuator: 40dB

  • Programmable Gain Amplifier: 24, 30 dB

  • Total signal chain gain: 54 dB (max)

  • TGC update rate 1MHz

Data sampling

14-bit @ 65MSPS (standard) / 16-bit @ 120MSPS (HF version)

Raw data buffer

up to 128MB per channel

External synchronization

Output for synchronization (TRIG OUT)

digital, LVTTV 3.3V, 50\(\Omega\) output impedance, active high, (10us pulse)

Input for synchronization (TRIG IN)

digital, LVTTV 3.3V, HiZ input impedance

Reference clock output (CLK OUT)

digital, LVTTV 3.3V, 50\(\Omega\) output impedance

Output for synchronization (CLK IN)

digital, LVTTV 3.3V, HiZ input impedance

Ultrasound probes

Ultrasound probe connectors

1x connectors (linear/phase/convex/RCA)

Supported probes

  • 2D probes (linear/phase/convex): up to 256-elem (depending on the probe adapter and the probe)

  • 3D probes (RCA) – offered by us4us / produced by Vermon

Interface (Model: RL-PCIe-2024)

Data streaming interface

2x PCIe gen3 x4

Raw data real-time streaming data rate (wire speed)

6 GB/s

Streaming method

PCIe Direct Memory Access

Software

Low-level API

C++ (currently RF data acquisition only); Python; Matlab®

Power supply

Power connection

pluggable

External AC/DC power supply*

  • INPUT: 120V,60Hz / 230V,50Hz ±10%

  • OUTPUT: 19VDC, 4.74A

  • The us4R-lite™ must be supplied from the source that meets IEC Class II and NEC Class 2 power supply requirements.

  • Dedicated FSP090-RBCM1 power supply is delivered with the device

Max power consumption

90W

Physical / Environmental

System size (DxWxH)

260 x 200 × 83 [mm] high without probe adapter; total high may slightly differ depending on the Probe Adapter used: +27mm (EPA), +39mm (PAU), +26mm (VPA)

System weight

~2.8 kg

Ingress protection

IP2x

Position

vertical

Mobility

portable

Environmental conditions

  • Application: laboratory

  • up to 2000 m

  • pollution degree II

Requirements

PC host

e.g. Lenovo Thinkstation P620

CPU

e.g. AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO

Memory – RAM

e.g. 32 GB

Storage

e.g. 1TB NVMe PCIe

Operating system

Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) / Linux Ubuntu 20.04 or newer

GPU (optional)

e.g. High-performance NVidia GPU with GPU-Direct support

PCIe adapter card

e.g. Dolphinics PXH832

Accessories

e.g. LCD monitor with DP input, USB keyboard and mouse

6.3. Current system limitations

Here is a list current system limitations:

  • SWE (Shear-Wave Elastography) functions are limited and available only to approved early-adopters.

  • The system provides only pre-beamformed RF or I/Q data. It does not perform image reconstruction in particular. The signal processing should be handled by a dedicated processing hardware, e.g. GPU. We provide ready to use examples e.g. for the B-mode image reconstruction on the NVIDIA GPU.

  • The ability to achieve a stable, selected PRF depends on the chosen communication interface between the host PC and the ultrasound system. For a custom solution, it is the user’s responsibility to ensure that the selected communication interface with the host PC and the signal processing setup satisfies requirements for the selected PRF.

The above limitations may be removed in future versions of the system software/firmware.