OPTIMIZED SWITCHING CONFIGURATIONS FOR RECONFIGURABLE ARRAYS OF SENSOR ELEMENTS

The reconfigurable ultrasound array disclosed herein is one that allows groups of subelements to be connected together dynamically so that the shape of the resulting element can be made to match the shape of the wave front. This can lead to improved performance and/or reduced channel count. Reconfigurability can be achieved using a switching network. A methodology and an algorithm are disclosed that allows the performance of this switching network to be improved by properly choosing the configuration of the switching network.