Research ultrasound system
20/01/2025
Verasonics Inc, a leader in research ultrasound, has announced the release of new features and functionality for the Vantage NXT Research Ultrasound System. The Vantage NXT is the successor to Verasonics’ pioneering and industry-leading Vantage Research Ultrasound System.
Updates to Vantage NXT features and functionality include multi-system configurations available in two- and
four-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.
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. This advancement 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.
Vantage NXT offers two low-frequency inputs for acquisition of auxiliary signals to enable precise co-registration with ultrasound data capture. Analogue inputs are suitable for a range of sensor signals, including strain, acceleration and temperature. This method of data capture allows the alignment of analogue signal inputs with ultrasound radio frequency (RF) data during offline analysis.
The 16-bit float RF data type, with a 16-bit analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter, is an improvement over the 14-bit A/D converter on the Vantage platform, meaning Vantage NXT provides improved resolution for small signal processing. Applications benefiting from 16-bit float RF data include photoacoustic and other low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) acquisitions using accumulation measurement techniques, Doppler measurements and external processing using graphics processing units.
Verasonics