UWGSP10 is designed to be a fully programmable multiprocessor-based board targeted for use in a next-generation ultrasound machine. Ultrasound processing demands a high-performance system capable of performing complex and intensive algorithms fast enough to support a real-time frame rate. Currently, this is only possible using boards consisting entirely of dedicated hardware components, and thus relies heavily on ASICS to peform the most intense processing. A recent board developed jointly by our team and Siemens Medical Sytems, a local ultrasound company, showed that it is both possible and practical to perform ultrasound functions in software running on sophisticated, yet programmable hardware. GSP10 is an attempt to take this concept a step further, creating a board that will act as a building block in a scalable, high-performance ultrasound back-end.
A closely related project consists of building a Multiprocessor Simulation Environment (MSE) to aid the design and development of the GSP10 board.
