FLUST

FLUST simulates ultrasound blood-flow signals using a flow-line approach to support in silico evaluation of acquisition setups and velocity estimation schemes.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Simulation Capabilities: Supports multiple transducer types, acquisition setups, flow phantoms, and simulation of stationary blood velocity fields to model diverse ultrasound scenarios.
• Robustness Enhancements: Provides refinements for phase-sensitive setups and automatic selection of spatial and temporal discretization parameters to reduce interpolation errors and variability in signal power.
• Validation and Reliability: Produces speckle statistics, spatial and temporal correlation, and frequency content that align with theoretical predictions.
• Integration with UltraSound ToolBox (USTB): Integrated within the UltraSound ToolBox (USTB) to enable combined use with other USTB analysis modules.

Scientific Applications:

• Velocity estimation development: Design, comparison, and validation of velocity estimation schemes using simulated ultrasound data.
• Acquisition design and optimization: Assessment and optimization of acquisition setups and transducer configurations for velocity estimation experiments.
• Post-processing evaluation: Evaluation of post-processing steps with respect to interpolation effects and signal power variability.
• Validation of phase-sensitive methods and speckle models: Testing and validation of phase-sensitive acquisition schemes and speckle statistics against theoretical predictions.

Methodology:

The simulation employs a flow-line based approach to generate ultrasound data, simulates stationary blood velocity fields, uses automatic selection of spatial and temporal discretization parameters to reduce interpolation errors and signal power variability, includes refinements for phase-sensitive setups, and validates outputs against theoretical predictions.