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Ultrasound upgrade
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09/09/2008
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In a move responding to developments within the ultrasound market, Analog Devices has added two parts to its AD927x family, which it launched last year. The parts – the AD9272 and 9273 – address two ends of the diverging ultrasound market
According to Jan-Hein Broeders, European healthcare business development and applications engineer for Analog Devices, high end users are looking for better image quality and better dynamic range. “However,” he continued, “those building portable devices are more concerned with battery life.” The AD9272 meets the first requirement and the AD9273 has better power management.
The AD927x devices combine eight channels, each comprising a low noise amplifier (LNA), a variable gain amplifier, an antialiasing filter and a 12bit a/d converter. The LNA and a programmable filter allows a range of ultrasound probes to be used.
The AD9272 is said to offer the industry’s lowest input referred noise (0.75 nV/rtHz at 5 MHz typical) and the company claims the part has 6dB/rtHz better input dynamic range than competing devices. For portable ultrasound equipment, the AD9273 draws less than 100mW per channel at 12bit resolution and 40Msample/s, extends portable ultrasound battery life.
The AD9272 supports conversion rates of up to 80Msample/s with a dynamic range of 42dB. The AD9273, meanwhile, handles 50Msample/s with a dynamic range of 30dB. Each part is configurable via the spi bus using a graphical interface.
“It is a challenge to design parts like this and to manufacture them on one piece of silicon,” Broeders concluded, “but we have done it.”
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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