ANNEX 3.3: Summary of Research Projects and Related Publications1. Stergiopoulos S., "Implementation of Adaptive and Synthetic Aperture Beamformers in Sonar Systems", The Proceedings of the IEEE , 86(2), 358-396, Feb. 1998. Development of adaptive beamforming schemes with near-instantaneous convergence for multi-dimensional arrays. System oriented applications include the implementation of the adaptive schemes in integrated active-passive sonar and radar systems deploying line, planar, cylindrical and spherical arrays of sensors. The first objective of the above investigation was to implement advanced beamforming processing schemes in the Canadian Navy's real time sonars. This effort was successful and it has been reported at the Proceedings of the IEEE 86(2), 358-396, Feb. 1998. The second objective was to disseminate the defence inspired research into medical tomography imaging applications. Thus , DND/DRDC awarded Dr. Stergiopoulos with a TIF $975K grant to develop Ultrasonic Sensing & Imaging Technology, Leading to a Next-Generation Field-Portable 3D Diagnostic Ultrasound Imaging System. This ultrasound development effort to implement 3D adaptive beamforming for ultrasound systems deploying planar phased array probes with 16x16-sensors was supported by NSERC Grants (STR0207255, OGP0203828, CRDPJ262242-02) and by the European Canadian collaborative projects supported by the European Commission Grants, EC-IST-1999-10618 MITTUG and EC-IST-2001-34088 ADUMS. Relevant References: [B2] Stergiopoulos S., “Signal Processing Concept Similarities among Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, Dec- 2000. [B3] Stergiopoulos S., “Advanced Beamformers”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, Dec- 2000. [B4] Stergiopoulos S., “Advanced Sonar Signal Processing, Theory and Implementation”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, Dec- 2000. [J9] A. Dhanantwari, S. Stergiopoulos, C. Parodi, F. Bertora, P. Pellegretti, A. Questa, "An efficient 3D beamformer implementation for real-time 4D ultrasound systems deploying planar array probes", Proceedinds of the IEEE UFFC'04 Symposium, Montreal, Canada, August 2004 [J10] A. Dhanantwari, S. Stergiopoulos, C. Parodi, F. Bertora, A. Questa and P. Pellegretti, " Adaptive 3D Beamforming for Ultrasound Systems Deploying Linear and Planar Array Phased Array Probes", IEEE Conference Proceedings, IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Honolulu Hawaii, October 5-8, 2003, [P3] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "High Resolution 3D Ultrasound Imaging System Deploying a Multi-Dimensional Array of Sensors and Method for Multi-Dimensional Beamforming Sensor Signals"Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,482,160, issued 19 Nov. 2002. [P4] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "High Resolution 3D Ultrasound Imaging System Deploying a Multi-Dimensional Array of Sensors and Method for Multi-Dimensional Beamforming Sensor Signals" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,719,696, issued 13 April 2004. [6] F. Zhang, A. Bilas, A. Dhanantwari, K. Plataniotis, and S. Stergiopoulos, “Parallelization & Performance of 3D Ultrasound Imaging Beamforming Algorithms on Modern Clusters”, (Award of Best Student presentation), 16th Annual ACM International Conference on Supercomputing, Boston, USA, June 2002.
2. Stergiopoulos S., (Editor) “Handbook: Advanced Signal processing: Theory & Implementation for Sonar Radar and Medical Imaging Systems”, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, Dec-2000. Development of a Multi-Dimensional 2D/3D Advanced Signal processing Structure: Over the last five years, Dr. Stergiopoulos has initiated a project to define a generic signal processing structure that will exploit signal processing concept similarities among sonar, radar and medical tomography imaging systems. The R&D effort received funding from DND/CRAD {Grant DPAS-01217}, NSERC {Strategic grant (STR0207255) and Research grant (OGP0203828)} and NATO {Collaborative Grant CRG 951305}. The results of this R&D effort have been reported in the above Handbook. Moreover, the European Commission provided grant support for a European Canadian workshop on dual use technologies (Fourier Workshop, April 2000). The end results of this workshop are included in the above Handbook. Relevant References: [B1] Stergiopoulos S., “Signal Processing Concept Similarities among Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing for Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, March 2000 [B2] Stergiopoulos S., “Advanced Beamformers”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing for Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, March 2000 [B3] Stergiopoulos S., “Advanced Sonar Signal Processing, Theory and Implementation”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing for Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, March 2000 [B4] Cunningham I., Stergiopoulos S. & Dhanantwari A., “Correction of Motion Artifacts in x-ray CT Medical Imaging Applications”, Handbook on Advanced Signal Processing for Sonar, Radar and Medical Imaging Systems, Editor: S. Stergiopoulos, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, USA, March 2000
3. Dhanantwari A.C., Stergiopoulos S., I. Iakovides “Correcting Organ Motion Artifacts in X-ray CT Medical Imaging by Adaptive Processing (Part-I: Theory)”, Med. Phys. 28(8), 1562-1576, 2001. Dhanantwari A.C., Stergiopoulos S., “Correcting Organ Motion Artifacts in X-ray CT Systems Based on Tracking of Motion Phase by the Spatial Overlap Correlator (Part-II: Experimental Study)”, Med. Phys. 28(8), 1577-1596, Aug. 2001. During the development of the above generic signal processing structure it became apparent that the applicant's innovation of a synthetic aperture algorithm [p1], which was a novel concept for sonar applications, it could be used in medical tomography image reconstruction algorithms [P2,P3,P4]. This led into a processing concept that addresses a major problem in CT-X-ray systems regarding the tracking of cardiac organ motion and removal of motion artifacts in the reconstructed images. Interest for these results was expressed by a consortium titled "New Roentgen" of European companies (ELSCINT-Israel, Siemens-Germany, Fraunhofer-Germany, SEMA-Group-Spain, ICCS-NTUA-Greece, Parsytec (Germany), Hospital of Offenbach (Germany). The applicant lead this consortium as the technical manager and has been awarded with the EP26764 grant by the European Commission-Esprit program. The resulting patents have been licensed to CANAMET Inc. for commercialization. For more details on this technology and product please visit the following site and the relevant publications: http://www.canamet.com/ct_cat.html. Relevant References: [P1] E.D. Sullivan and S. Stergiopoulos, "Overlap Correlator Synthetic Aperture Processor", U.S. Patent #. 4,930,111, Assignee: Department of U.S. Navy, NUSC, Newport, RI 02841-5047, issued June 1990. [P2] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "A Method for Tracking Organ Motion and Removing Artifacts for Computed Tomography Imaging Systems" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,236,705, issued 22 May 2001. [P3] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "A Method for Tracking Organ Motion and Removing Artifacts for Computed Tomography Imaging Systems", Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,535,570, issued 18 March 2003. [P4] Waheed Younis and Stergios Stergiopoulos, “Method for Tracking MotionPhase of an Object for Correcting Organ Motion Artifacts in x-ray CT Systems” issued August, 2006, US Patent: 7,085,342 [1] Dhanantwari A. and Stergiopoulos S., “Adaptive processing to correct for organ motion artifacts in CT/X-ray imaging systems”, SAM-2000 Conference Proceedings, Boston, MA, March 2000. [2] Dhanantwari A. and Stergiopoulos S., “A method for tracking and correcting for organ motion artifacts in computed tomography (CT/X-ray) imaging systems ”, IEEE-DSP ICSPAT Conference Proceedings, Toronto, Ont., Sept. 1998. [3] Stergiopoulos S., “Adaptive Processing to Correct for Organ Motion Artifacts in X-ray CT and to Improve Image Resolution in Ultrasound Medical Imaging Systems: MITTUG and New Roentgen Projects /European Commission, IST-10618 & EP-26764”, World Congress 2000, Biomedical Engineering, Chicago, IL, July-2000. [4] Stergiopoulos S., “Canadian R&D Efforts in Ultrasound Imaging Technologies associated with the European-Canadian Collaborative Project MITTUG”(invited), European Commission, IST-2000 conference, Nice-France, Nov-2000.
4. Pinto L., Dhanantwari A., Wong W., and Stergiopoulos S., “Blood Pressure Monitoring System Using Adaptive Interference Cancellation for Applications in Noisy & Vibration Intense Environments”, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 30, 657-670, 2002. The applicant’s R&D work on adaptive signal processing has been expanded to include development of non-invasive medical diagnostic system innovations monitoring vital signs. These innovations consist of:
Relevant References: [P1] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "Method and Device for Measuring Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in an Environment with Extreme Levels of Noise and Vibrations" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,520,918, issued 18 Feb. 2003. [P2] Stergios Stergiopoulos, Amar Dhanantwari, Lisa Pinto, Ronald Zachariah, Man Yee Winnie Wong, "Method and Device for Measuring Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in an Environment with Extreme Levels of Noise and Vibrations" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,705,998 issued 16 March 2004. [P3] Stergios Stergiopoulos, Amar Dhanantwari, Lisa Pinto, Ronald Zachariah, Man Yee Winnie Wong, "Method and Device for Measuring Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in an Environment with Extreme Levels of Noise and Vibrations" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,805,671, issued 19 Oct. 2004. [P4] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Dimitrios Hatzinakos, "Method and Device for Measuring Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate", US Provisional Patent Application, Filed: 28 February 2005, US Prov, 60/656,382, filed 28-Feb-2005. [P5] Stergiopoulos S. and Wrobel M. "Non-Invasive Diagnostic Ultrasound System Monitoring Brain Abnormalities", US Patent Application: 10/898,208, (DND File No. 1416-01/007 USA), Dec-2001. [1] S. Stergiopoulos, "Ultrasound Technology for Medical Imaging and Intracranial Diagnostic Applications”, Military Physiologic & Medical Monitoring & Networking Conference, US Armed Forces, Nov-2005, St. Petersburg, FL, USA [2] S. Stergiopoulos, "Non-invasive Physiological Monitoring”, Military Physiologic & Medical Monitoring & Networking Conference, US Armed Forces, Nov-2005, St. Petersburg, FL, USA [3] S. Stergiopoulos " Acoustic Signal Processing Developments for Non-Invasive Monitoring of Vital Signs and Ultrasound Intracranial Systems”, Journal of the Canadian Acoustics Association, 32(3), 118-9, September 2004. [4] S.Stergiopoulos, “Non-Invasive Battlefield Diagnostic Aid System: Vital-Signs Monitoring and 3D Ultrasound Imaging”, ATACCC, Conference on Casualty Care by US Armed Forces, St. Pete FL., 2002. 5. Younis W., Stergiopoulos S., Havelock, D., Groski J., "Non-Distructive Imaging of Shallow Buried Objects Using Acoustic Computed Tomography ", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 111(5), 2117-2127, 2002. The applicant’s work on adaptive signal processing for removing cardiac organ motion artifacts in medical tomography x-ray CT [P1] and MRI imaging systems [P2] has formed the system concept for detecting antipersonnel land-mines using acoustic diffraction computed tomography for 3D volumetric imaging of shallow buried objects and for 3D imaging of underwater environments. This is a significant development for anti-terrorist and Homeland Security operations and it can be a source to attract significant funding from the relevant Special Funding Programs. Relevant References: [1] Stergiopoulos S., et al., “Acoustic 3D CT for demining and archeological applications”, JASA, 107(5) Pt.2, 2806, 139th ASA meeting in Atlanta-USA, May 2000. [P1] Stergios Stergiopoulos and Amar Dhanantwari, "A Method for Tracking Organ Motion and Removing Artifacts for Computed Tomography Imaging Systems" Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US Patent: 6,236,705, issued 22 May 2001. [P2] Miroslaw Wrobel, Andreas Freibert, W.A. Younis, A.C. Dhanantwari and S. Stergiopoulos, "A Method and Device Correcting Organ Motion Artifacts in MRI Systems for Cardiac Imaging", Assignee: Defence R&D Canada, US. Patent Application, 10/608,141, filed: 30June, 2003. |