Show HN: FPGA Ultrasound Imaging on a Raspberry Pi

Seems worth mentioning that incorrectly used an ultrasound can burn bones. (Specific frequencies in bony areas moved too slowly).<p>I didn&#x27;t do enough research to understand this (but just enough to verify it). I learned it initially from my wife who&#x27;s an NP. When I mentioned a previous DIY ultrasound article to her she looked skeptical and mentioned the risk of bone burns.

The github is a little more descriptive and answers a few more questions: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kelu124&#x2F;un0rick&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kelu124&#x2F;un0rick&#x2F;</a> (though don&#x27;t expect all your questions to be answered here either).<p>I&#x27;m curious what the FPGA approach offers above a regular CPU&#x2F;DSP approach in plain English (quod non intellegunt: technerdese attracts followers, latinnerdese less so). I&#x27;ve been interested in FPGA&#x27;s since dabbling with them a couple years ago but haven&#x27;t come across a use case that&#x27;s tangibly beneficial yet. If this is one, I&#x27;d love to contribute, but I&#x27;m not so far gleaning that from the docs. Can OP assist here?

An amazing portable US is soon coming from Butterfly Network. The transducer plus DSP is on a very large integrated circuit, and it can do breathtaking stuff for a device of this size and cost, like real time Doppler US (show blood flow in the image).<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.butterflynetwork.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.butterflynetwork.com</a>

It uses Project Icestorm which is absolutely great. So much better using an open source toolchain than the proprietary horrors that FPGA vendors inflict on us. I wrote a quick intro here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rwmj.wordpress.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;03&#x2F;17&#x2F;playing-with-picorv32-on-the-ice40-hx8k-fpga-breakout-board-part-1&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rwmj.wordpress.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;03&#x2F;17&#x2F;playing-with-picorv32-...</a><p>It&#x27;s a real shame that larger FPGAs aren&#x27;t yet supported.

Cool project :)<p>I just got back from shenzhen where I purchased a handheld ultrasound probe with built-in screen about the size of a really chunky smartphone for $1800 with wifi &amp; connection to ios&#x2F;android

My understanding is that the probes are the expensive part. The rest is added value, for sure, but there is something of a monopoly on high quality piezo crystals used in the probes. This ensures that the current players don&#x27;t compete much on price.