@article{cai_hu_chen_prieto_rosenbaum_stringer_jiang_2023, title={Inertial Measurement Unit-Assisted Ultrasonic Tracking System for Ultrasound Probe Localization}, volume={70}, ISSN={["1525-8955"]}, DOI={10.1109/TUFFC.2022.3207185}, abstractNote={Ultrasonic tracking is a promising technique in indoor object localization. However, limited success has been reported in dynamic orientational and positional ultrasonic tracking for ultrasound (US) probes due to its instability and relatively low accuracy. This article aims at developing an inertial measurement unit (IMU)-assisted ultrasonic tracking system that enables a high accuracy positional and orientational localization. The system was designed with the acoustic pressure field simulation of the transmitter, receiver configuration, position-variant error simulation, and sensor fusion. The prototype was tested in a tracking volume required in typical obstetric sonography within the typical operation speed ranges (slow mode and fast mode) of US probe movement. The performance in two different speed ranges was evaluated against a commercial optical tracking device. The results show that the proposed IMU-assisted US tracking system achieved centimeter-level positional tracking accuracy with the mean absolute error (MAE) of 12 mm and the MAE of orientational tracking was less than 1°. The results indicate the possibility of implementing the IMU-assisted ultrasonic tracking system in US probe localization.}, number={9}, journal={IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL}, author={Cai, Qianqian and Hu, Jiale and Chen, Mengyue and Prieto, Juan and Rosenbaum, Alan J. and Stringer, Jeffrey S. A. and Jiang, Xiaoning}, year={2023}, month={Sep}, pages={920–929} }
 @misc{peng_cai_chen_jiang_2022, title={Recent Advances in Tracking Devices for Biomedical Ultrasound Imaging Applications}, volume={13}, ISSN={["2072-666X"]}, DOI={10.3390/mi13111855}, abstractNote={With the rapid advancement of tracking technologies, the applications of tracking systems in ultrasound imaging have expanded across a wide range of fields. In this review article, we discuss the basic tracking principles, system components, performance analyses, as well as the main sources of error for popular tracking technologies that are utilized in ultrasound imaging. In light of the growing demand for object tracking, this article explores both the potential and challenges associated with different tracking technologies applied to various ultrasound imaging applications, including freehand 3D ultrasound imaging, ultrasound image fusion, ultrasound-guided intervention and treatment. Recent development in tracking technology has led to increased accuracy and intuitiveness of ultrasound imaging and navigation with less reliance on operator skills, thereby benefiting the medical diagnosis and treatment. Although commercially available tracking systems are capable of achieving sub-millimeter resolution for positional tracking and sub-degree resolution for orientational tracking, such systems are subject to a number of disadvantages, including high costs and time-consuming calibration procedures. While some emerging tracking technologies are still in the research stage, their potentials have been demonstrated in terms of the compactness, light weight, and easy integration with existing standard or portable ultrasound machines.}, number={11}, journal={MICROMACHINES}, author={Peng, Chang and Cai, Qianqian and Chen, Mengyue and Jiang, Xiaoning}, year={2022}, month={Nov} }
 @article{cai_peng_lu_prieto_rosenbaum_stringer_jiang_2021, title={Performance Enhanced Ultrasound Probe Tracking With a Hemispherical Marker Rigid Body}, volume={68}, ISSN={["1525-8955"]}, DOI={10.1109/TUFFC.2021.3058145}, abstractNote={Among tracking techniques applied in the 3-D freehand ultrasound (US), the camera-based tracking method is relatively mature and reliable. However, constrained by manufactured marker rigid bodies, the US probe is usually limited to operate within a narrow rotational range before occlusion issues affect accurate and robust tracking performance. Thus, this study proposed a hemispherical marker rigid body to hold passive noncoplanar markers so that the markers could be identified by the camera, mitigating self-occlusion. The enlarged rotational range provides greater freedom for sonographers while performing examinations. The single-axis rotational and translational tracking performances of the system, equipped with the newly designed marker rigid body, were investigated and evaluated. Tracking with the designed marker rigid body achieved high tracking accuracy with 0.57° for the single-axis rotation and 0.01 mm for the single-axis translation for sensor distance between 1.5 and 2 m. In addition to maintaining high accuracy, the system also possessed an enhanced ability to capture over 99.76% of the motion data in the experiments. The results demonstrated that with the designed marker rigid body, the missing data were remarkably reduced from over 15% to less than 0.5%, which enables interpolation in the data postprocessing. An imaging test was further conducted, and the volume reconstruction of a four-month fetal phantom was demonstrated using the motion data obtained from the tracking system.}, number={6}, journal={IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS FERROELECTRICS AND FREQUENCY CONTROL}, author={Cai, Qianqian and Peng, Chang and Lu, Jian-Yu and Prieto, Juan C. and Rosenbaum, Alan J. and Stringer, Jeffrey S. A. and Jiang, Xiaoning}, year={2021}, month={Jun}, pages={2155–2163} }
 @article{cai_wu_lu_prieto_rosenbaum_stringer_jiang_2021, title={Quantitative Study on Error Sensitivity in Ultrasound Probe Calibration with Hybrid Tracking}, ISSN={["1948-5719"]}, DOI={10.1109/IUS52206.2021.9593708}, abstractNote={Three-dimensional (3D) freehand ultrasound (US) imaging enabled by the external tracking system requires an accurate calibration process to transform the tracked motion information from the markers to the US frames. The previously proposed phantomless calibration method can be further improved using both optical tracking and image-based tracking. This study provides a quantitative analysis on the error sensitivity before implementing the image-based tracking during the calibration process. A linear relationship was found between the perturbation in imaging plane motion estimation and the error caused in the calibration solution. The error to perturbation ratio was within 0.5 in most cases and can reach up to around 0.9 in some poor cases. The overall analysis showed a good error tolerance for the hybrid tracking enabled US probe calibration.}, journal={INTERNATIONAL ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM (IEEE IUS 2021)}, author={Cai, Qianqian and Wu, Tianfu and Lu, Jian-yu and Prieto, Juan C. and Rosenbaum, Alan J. and Stringer, Jeffrey S. A. and Jiang, Xiaoning}, year={2021} }