A Frequency-Domain Plane-Wave Ultrasound Imaging Method with Amplitude-Normalized Coherence Weighting

A Frequency-Domain Plane-Wave Ultrasound Imaging Method with Amplitude-Normalized Coherence Weighting | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Frequency-Domain Plane-Wave Ultrasound Imaging Method with Amplitude-Normalized Coherence Weighting Pan Zuo, Luo Lin, Jinlong Li, Xiaorong Gao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8729268/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Frequency-domain plane-wave imaging (FPWI) enables ultrafast frame rates for ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation. However, image quality can still be degraded by noise and artifacts. Most coherence-weighting schemes are implemented in the time domain using sliding-window statistics, which introduce substantial computation and memory-access overhead. In this work, we compute coherence weights directly in the frequency domain using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Inspired by spatial coherence principles related to the van Cittert–Zernike theorem (VCZ), we propose a normalized amplitude coherence factor (NACF) as an amplitude-domain alternative to the normalized energy coherence factor (NECF). Experiments on representative defect datasets show that FPWI with NACF improves contrast ratio (CR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and array performance indicator (API) relative to baseline FPWI, while further sharpening defect boundaries and enhancing lateral resolution. These results demonstrate a favorable balance between artifact suppression and resolution enhancement, making the proposed method a promising solution for ultrasonic NDE scenarios requiring both high frame rates and high imaging quality. Frequency-domain plane-wave imaging (FPWI) Van Cittert–Zernike (VCZ) theorem Normalized amplitude coherence factor (NACF) Ultrasonic NDE Coherence weighting Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8729268","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610895297,"identity":"4ea65e63-ac07-46bf-9ba3-9b8ee02ad251","order_by":0,"name":"Pan Zuo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zuo","suffix":""},{"id":610895298,"identity":"cabac2b2-fb3b-4d78-9e04-1d34b38a66fd","order_by":1,"name":"Luo Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luo","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":610895299,"identity":"e6ce389b-a913-496c-8ee0-7a9f7fdb39d1","order_by":2,"name":"Jinlong Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxmYGxgMgBh+Q/SChwoYoLQxgLWwMDMwGD86kEWcTTAub5MO2Q4SVM7fzHjjwcUctAxt787GKBLYDDPzt3QkEHMaXcHDmmeMMbDzH0m4k8NxhkDhzdgMBLTwGh3nbjjGwSeSY3UiQeMZgIJFLrBb5998KEgwOE62lBmgLDxtDQgKRWg7ObDsA9EuasUTCgTQegn4x7D9j+OBjWx0DP/vhhx9//rOR42/vJaClAUwdrm+ACvDgVQ4C8hCqjqDCUTAKRsEoGMEAABM+R7iyMwdMAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jinlong","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":610895300,"identity":"5a2f7ec0-7c4a-4cb3-bf2a-7937ae1d6a3d","order_by":3,"name":"Xiaorong Gao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaorong","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-29 08:54:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8729268/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8729268/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106245886,"identity":"a42b8640-0a44-4142-866b-186f2cca965c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-06 15:56:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1610872,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AFrequencyDomainPlaneWaveUltrasoundImagingMethodwithAmplitudeNormalizedCoherenceWeighting.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8729268/v1_covered_8b475ed8-436f-4735-8b8b-9eaabc24e1c3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"A Frequency-Domain Plane-Wave Ultrasound Imaging Method with Amplitude-Normalized Coherence Weighting","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Frequency-domain plane-wave imaging (FPWI), Van Cittert–Zernike (VCZ) theorem, Normalized amplitude coherence factor (NACF), Ultrasonic NDE, Coherence weighting","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8729268/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8729268/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFrequency-domain plane-wave imaging (FPWI) enables ultrafast frame rates for ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation. However, image quality can still be degraded by noise and artifacts. Most coherence-weighting schemes are implemented in the time domain using sliding-window statistics, which introduce substantial computation and memory-access overhead. In this work, we compute coherence weights directly in the frequency domain using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Inspired by spatial coherence principles related to the van Cittert\u0026ndash;Zernike theorem (VCZ), we propose a normalized amplitude coherence factor (NACF) as an amplitude-domain alternative to the normalized energy coherence factor (NECF). Experiments on representative defect datasets show that FPWI with NACF improves contrast ratio (CR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and array performance indicator (API) relative to baseline FPWI, while further sharpening defect boundaries and enhancing lateral resolution. 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