Breaking Through the Speed Barrier — Advancements in High-Speed Imaging

History and the discoveries of the use of ultrasound can be traced back to late 18th century, but one of the major steps toward the practical use of ultrasound may be attributed to Lewis Nixon who invented the very first sonar type listening device in 1906 as a way of detecting icebergs [1]. Rapid developments of the use of ultrasound occurred since then, particularly after world war II; initially for underwater (sonar) and industrial uses, followed by developments for medical applications [2, 3]. Today, the technology is widespread in Medicine, Non Destructive Testing (NDT) and Sonar in many specialised areas such as: industrial and medical imaging, study and classification of the properties of material and biological tissues, seismic explora‐ tions high-intensity applications etc. and the applications are growing. These rapid advances are directly related to the parallel advancements in electronics, computing, and transducer technology together with sophisticated signal processing techniques.