Chips Enable Noise, Power Customization 15795

Originally Published MPMN November/December 2008

BREAKTHROUGHS

Chips Enable Noise, Power Customization

Stephanie Steward

Following recent advancements in its product line that have made electronic components smaller and more efficient, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) has expanded its focus to improving component flexibility. The company’s two eight-channel ultrasound receivers enable designers to customize noise and power performance to suit various application requirements.

In 2007, ADI introduced AD9271, a general-purpose ultrasound product that integrated an eight-channel ultrasound receiver onto a single chip. This approach, according to the company, replaced discrete solutions by competing companies. Based on that technology, ADI has created the AD9272 eight-channel receiver for mid- and high-end cart-based ultrasound equipment and the AD9273 for portable systems. Each channel has a low-noise amplifier, a variable-gain amplifier, an antialiasing filter (AAF), and a 12-bit analog-to-digital convertor (ADC). AD9272 offers superior imaging quality for large ultrasound equipment while AD9273 provides the high power efficiency needed for portable units. Further increasing options for device designers, ADI has made the noise and power characteristics of both the AD9272 and AD9273 chips customizable for any given imaging mode, probe, or power requirement.

Because cart-based and portable ultrasound devices are used for variety of diverse treatments ranging from cardiac to ob-gyn applications, ADI equipped these components with a serial port interface (SPI) that enables users to optimize the chips for different applications. Changing SPI registers allows device designers to customize ultrasound signal processing architecture for the most appropriate noise performance or battery life for their application.

“Users can make their own power dissipation and dynamic range trade-offs affecting image quality depending on their application and need,” says Steve Hinderliter, business development director, high-speed signal processing. Not just a mathematical tool, the configuration software is based on real-world data to accommodate various imaging and ultrasound applications.

By increasing capabilities and improving ease of use, these customizable features improve the chips’ performance over competing products, according to Hinderliter. The AD9272, for example, allows users to change probes and adjust gains for different customer requirements, whereas fixed-input chips require attenuation to use different probes, which can add noise.

Analog Devices Inc., Norwood, MA
www.analog.com

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