Analysis and measurement of ultrasound backscattering from an ensemble of scatterers excited by sine-wave bursts

This paper develops a practical approximation for the backscattering of periodic bursts of sine waves by a volume of randomly distributed scatterers. The approximation is applied to the measurement of a “volumetric backscattering cross section,” using a substitution method in which the rms value of the gated backscattered signal is compared with the rms value of a wave reflected from a target of known coefficient of reflection. It is shown that the signal backscattered from the ensemble depends on the attenuation of the wave in the volume and upon the burst and gate lengths. An equation to obtain the volumetric backscattering cross section from experimental data is derived.