With increasing demand for accessible medical care, the need for portable diagnostic imaging equipment is growing. With what it claims is the industry’s first eight-channel transmit/receive chipset designed exclusively for portable ultrasound systems, National Semiconductor enables the design of both hand-carried and handheld units that deliver longer battery life and imaging performance comparable to larger console systems.
National’s eight-channel chipset includes four integrated circuits: the LM96511 receive analog front end (AFE); the LM96530 transmit/receive switch; the LM96550 transmit pulser; and the LM96570 configurable transmit beamformer.
Te LM96511 AFE is supplied in an 11 mm x 17 mm, 376-pin BGA package and is priced at $55 each in 1,000-unit quantities. The LM96530 transmit/receive switch is packaged in a 9 mm by 9 mm, 60-pin LLP, the LM96550 pulser in a 12 mm by 12 mm, 80-pin LLP, and the LM96570 beamformer in a 5 mm by 5 mm, 32-pin LLP. The LM96530, LM96550 and LM96570 are priced at $8, $20 and $6, respectively, each in 1,000-unit quantities