Accelerating Ultrasound Wave Propagation Simulations using Pruned FFT

The use of ultrasound in noninvasive medical procedures is a rapidly expanding
area of medicine. The success of these treatments often depends on complex
ultrasound simulations that require significant computing power, time, and
associated calculation costs. This article presents an approach that has the
potential to reduce computation time and, consequently, the calculation costs of
ultrasound wave propagation simulations used in the pre-planning phase of
noninvasive treatments by involving the pruned Fast Fourier Transform algorithm
(pruned FFT). The paper employs spectrum filtration using a binary map to emulate
the behaviour of the pruned FFT. This allows for the evaluation of the impact of
the pruned FFT on the number of computed elements in the spectral domain and the
accuracy of the simulation. Results on real data have shown that it is possible
to replace the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) applied to acoustic pressure and
velocity with the pruned version of the algorithm while obtaining results that
are suitable for pre-planning purposes, thereby reducing computation time and the
time spent on treatment planning. Involving the pruned FFT can also enable the
execution of simulations in higher resolution domains with much faster execution
times. In some cases, we were able to achieve around 90% accuracy on the single
edge of the 2D domain.