Simple tools for simulating phased array focal laws on 3D solids

This paper reports oar progress on the development of a three-dimensional raytracing program that can simulate the focal laws of a phased array system. The modeled transducer is divided into elements of a given length, width and inter-element gap distance. Each focal law to be modeled requires a steering angle, focal length and selection of which groups of elements are transmitting and receiving. Electronic scanning is simulated by stepping through a series of predefined focal laws. The program phase shifts and sums the received rays at each element based on the properties of the currently-active focal law. Simulated A-scans are constructed from the received rays which appear animated as the beam is swept. Beam profiles can also be generated that show the primary forward beam and energy in the side lobes. The work is based on Imagine3D ultrasonic simulation software and the dedicated efforts of Doug Mair and Leigh Frazer.