Systems and methods for synthetic aperture focusing in ultrasound imaging

A method for image artifact suppression in ultrasound imaging comprising:

• a) determining an aperiodic sampling angle interval;
• b) generating a non-uniform angular distribution of steering angles for a plane wave ultrasound transmission using the aperiodic sampling angle interval;
• c) determining a transmission delay profile for channels of an ultrasound transducer based upon a first steering angle selected from the non-uniform angular distribution of steering angles;
• d) transmitting a first plane wave of ultrasound to a subject using the transmission delay profile;
• e) receiving an ultrasound signal from the subject;
• f) suppressing side-lobe image artifacts by updating the transmission delay profile with a second steering angle selected from the non-uniform angular distribution of steering angles based upon the aperiodic sampling angle interval and transmitting a second plane wave of ultrasound to the subject using the updated transmission delay profile, wherein the updated transmission delay profile defines a transmission beam pattern comprising a plurality of peaks as a function of lateral position on the ultrasound transducer;
• g) adjusting an F-number of the ultrasound transducer based on the aperiodic sampling angle interval to further suppress side-lobe levels in the transmission beam pattern by positioning a plurality of null points in a received ultrasound beam pattern at the plurality of peaks in the transmission beam pattern, wherein the received ultrasound beam pattern is measured from the received ultrasound signal by identifying a plurality of null points in the received ultrasound signal as a function of lateral position on the ultrasound transducer.