Ultrasound Tracking of the Acoustically Actuated Microswimmer

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2019 Nov;66(11):3231-3237. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2902523. Epub 2019 Mar 1.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the ultrasound tracking strategy for the acoustically actuated bubble-based microswimmer.

Methods: The ultrasound tracking performance is evaluated by comparing the tracking results with the camera tracking. A benchtop experiment is conducted to capture the motion of two types of microswimmers by synchronized ultrasound and camera systems. A laboratory developed tracking algorithm is utilized to estimate the trajectory for both tracking methods.

Results: The trajectory reconstructed from ultrasound tracking method compares well with the conventional camera tracking, exhibiting a high accuracy and robustness for three different types of moving trajectories.

Conclusion: Ultrasound tracking is an accurate and reliable approach to track the motion of the acoustically actuated microswimmers.

Significance: Ultrasound imaging is a promising candidate for noninvasively tracking the motion of microswimmers inside the body in biomedical applications and may further promote the real-time control strategy for the microswimmers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustics*
  • Algorithms
  • Biomedical Engineering / instrumentation*
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Equipment Design
  • Microbubbles
  • Microtechnology / instrumentation*
  • Motion
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Ultrasonography / methods*
  • Video Recording