Plane Wave – Volume 8, Issue 4 - Verasonics Announces Expanded Features & Capabilities for Vantage® NXT: Multi-System Configurations, Analog Inputs, 16-Bit Float and Software Release 1.1.3

Continuing Verasonics’ mission to provide state-of-the-art research platforms, the Vantage NXT builds upon the versatility of Vantage with enhanced performance and additional features. Vantage NXT offers a complete next generation technology update including an advanced, proprietary transducer designed to meet and surpass the needs of current and future cutting-edge ultrasound research. Today, we are pleased to announce to our customers the latest Vantage NXT software release (ver.1.1.3), with the addition of the features and capabilities listed below. The software release is now available for download in customer folders.

Updates include:
Multi-System configurations

Vantage NXT multi-system configurations are available in 2- and 4-system versions. These high-channel count configurations are most often required in Volume Imaging research efforts requiring phase-accurate transmit and receive acquisitions. New features include a simpler programming model, better sequence reliability, and the ability to run hardware and software asynchronously, enabling faster acquisition frame rates.

Researchers continue to push the limits of ultrasonics, with an increasing need to acquire volumetric data for 3-dimensional imaging and analysis. Rapid acquisition is essential in many biomedical applications – requiring high frame rates of RF data, using specialized transducers supported by high-channel count electronics. Verasonics is an experienced leader in the acquisition of volume imaging data, offering a variety of solutions for use across a wide range of studies, including 1-, 2- and 4-unit multi-system configurations.

Potential benefits of high-frame rate volume imaging:

Characterization of changes in blood flow with physiological events
Multi-directional characterization of changes in structural properties
Preservation of feature correlation for moving tissues
Improved guidance and monitoring for focused ultrasound therapies

Volume Imaging solutions from Verasonics have been developed to enhance and extend the work of today’s scientific community and Verasonics provides the software required for acquisition and reconstruction of volumetric data. The software includes scripts for a variety of 3D acquisition techniques such as plane wave, wide beam, and random compound aperture imaging, as well as color Doppler imaging using matrix array transducers. Verasonics also offers scripts for volumetric acquisition using row-column array transducers.

Benefits of a Vantage NXT Multi-System configuration for Volume Imaging:

Faster hardware frame rates, better sequence reliability
Simplified programming model
Enhanced data line driver for MUX switches, with 12.5 MHz maximum clock rate
Updated synchronization module now allows hardware and software to run asynchronously
Multiple host controllers reduce bandwidth limitations and add greater computing power, allowing for faster processing

Improvements to MUX Capabilities

Vantage NXT is designed to remove bottlenecks from multiplex imaging and offers increased multiplex control, leading to lower overhead time, faster frame rates and the ability to accommodate a wider range of transducer architectures and configurations. Changes to the UTA baseboard – a faster clock, increased memory and higher max voltage – enables faster frame rates. With the Vantage NXT platform, signal shifting for the mux switches has been increased from 5MHZ to 12.5 MHZ, more than doubling the transfer speed

These advancements in functionality, coupled with increased memory, provides easier programming capability of more unique apertures. In addition, improved signal transmit and receive fidelity enhances overall multiplex imaging performance.

Analog Inputs

Vantage NXT now offers two low-frequency inputs for acquisition of auxiliary signals to enable precise co-registration with ultrasound data capture. Analog inputs are suitable for the recording of physiological signals such as EKG and respiration, as well as a range of sensor signals including strain, acceleration, and temperature. This method of data capture allows the alignment of analog signal inputs with ultrasound RF data during offline analysis.

16-bit Float RF Datatype

With a 16-bit A/D converter and 125MHz sample rate, an improvement over the 14-bit A/D converter and sample rate on the Vantage platform, Vantage NXT provides improved resolution for small signal processing. Float 16 allows a new computing technique used in graphics processing and machine learning to capture more data resolution at certain levels. Applications benefiting from 16-bit float RF data include photoacoustic and other low SNR acquisitions using accumulation measurement techniques, Doppler measurements and external processing using GPUs.

For more information on these updates and the powerful benefits of Vantage NXT, visit our website Vantage NXT Research Ultrasound Systems, and/or contact [email protected].

Utilize the Verasonics Community Portal – now with Expanded Content and Training Materials

Verasonics offers customers a Community Portal. The portal is designed to aid customers in maximizing the features and functionality of Verasonics’ solutions to most efficiently reach their research requirements. The Community Portal is an educational and training resource site exclusively available to Verasonics’ customers.

Registration is Easy!

Simply follow the instructions below to access the Community Portal and contact us if you have any questions: [email protected].

Registration Instructions:

1). Navigate to Verasonics Community Portal.

2). Click on the Login button in upper right of screen to enter the Community Portal site.

3). Upon entering the site for the first time, users must register with the Community Portal. See the Register button in the image below.

NOTE: Anyone with a login to the previous Community Portal site must complete the new registration process. If the portal system does not recognize a user’s name, perhaps a new member of a research lab, a message will appear recommending the user contact Verasonics directly.

Upon registration, all users will be requested to confirm their email address a second time.

4). A second level of account security will be requested via an authenticator app. Two authenticator apps are noted on the login screen (Google or Microsoft Authenticator), customers may use one of these or an authenticator app of their choice.