Design of a High-Power Multilevel Sinusoidal Signal and High-Frequency Excitation Module Based on FPGA for HIFU Systems

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper introduces an FPGA based design of HIFU system. The structure of the paper is well organised and well presented. Although the paper detailed the design and the results, the FPGA logic and PWM design which are the main contribution of the paper is missed. It is recommended to add a sub-section to present FPGA logic design and the implementation results.

Author Response

Open Review

(x) I would not like to sign my review report
( ) I would like to sign my review report

English language and style

( ) Extensive editing of English language and style required
( ) Moderate English changes required
(x) English language and style are fine/minor spell check required
( ) I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Is the research design appropriate?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the methods adequately described?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the results clearly presented?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the conclusions supported by the results?	(x)	( )	( )	( )

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper introduces an FPGA based design of HIFU system. The structure of the paper is well organised and well presented. Although the paper detailed the design and the results, the FPGA logic and PWM design which are the main contribution of the paper is missed. It is recommended to add a sub-section to present FPGA logic design and the implementation results.

 

 

• thanks for your comment. It was very helpful for us to complete this article.

 

• We have edited section 2. Firmware Implementation and update more results in Fig 13.

 

• We would also like to provide the source code of the VHDL_PWM_Generator module to our readers.

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

In their manuscript, Thang Bui et al. present the mainboard architecture for the HIFU device, which can generate a multistep sine wave. The method is novel and practical.

 There are several typos in the manuscript. For instance:

Beginning a sentence with an abbreviation should be avoided,

Ta, Rth(j-a), TJ, To

Figure 4 and Fig. 5 (a) have the same captions, but they represent different schematics.

The title of Fig. 18 should be deleted.

Author Response

Open Review

(x) I would not like to sign my review report
( ) I would like to sign my review report

English language and style

( ) Extensive editing of English language and style required
( ) Moderate English changes required
(x) English language and style are fine/minor spell check required
( ) I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Is the research design appropriate?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the methods adequately described?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the results clearly presented?	(x)	( )	( )	( )
Are the conclusions supported by the results?	(x)	( )	( )	( )

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In their manuscript, Thang Bui et al. present the mainboard architecture for the HIFU device, which can generate a multistep sine wave. The method is novel and practical.

There are several typos in the manuscript. For instance:

Beginning a sentence with an abbreviation should be avoided,

Ta, Rth(j-a), TJ, To

Figure 4 and Fig. 5 (a) have the same captions, but they represent different schematics.

The title of Fig. 18 should be deleted.

• thanks for your comment. It was very helpful for us to complete this article.
• We have edited Figure 5.  (a) Heat dissipate inside….
• We deleted the title of Fig 18.
• We changed some text in the manuscript related Ta, Rth(j-a), TJ, To

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is very interesting, however, there are some aspects that in my opinion should be modified or improved.
1) The title: the word FPGA in the tile would let the reader think that the paper discusses an  FPGA implementation. If we analyze the entire paper, the FPGA aspects are very marginal. the paper is strongly application-oriented and FPGA implementation regards only PWM implementation.
2) I don't understand why authors don't use an FPGA based DDS for the generation of the sinusoid signal
Ex.
Carlo, C.G., Luca, D.N., Rocco, F., Daniele, G., Marco, M., Alberto, N., Marco, R., Francesca, S., Sergio, S.
Comparison between trigonometric and traditional DDS, in 90 nm technology
(2018) Telkomnika (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 16 (5), pp. 2245-2253. 
Is it not possible to use a DDS plus a DAC instead of the PWM?
3) Results are clearly exposed but in my opinion, there is a lack of comparison with the literature. Is it possible to compare results with other papers?

Author Response

Open Review

(x) I would not like to sign my review report
( ) I would like to sign my review report

English language and style

( ) Extensive editing of English language and style required
( ) Moderate English changes required
( ) English language and style are fine/minor spell check required
(x) I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style

 

	Yes	Can be improved	Must be improved	Not applicable
Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
Is the research design appropriate?	( )	(x)	( )	( )
Are the methods adequately described?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Are the results clearly presented?	( )	( )	(x)	( )
Are the conclusions supported by the results?	(x)	( )	( )	( )

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is very interesting, however, there are some aspects that in my opinion should be modified or improved.
1) The title: the word FPGA in the tile would let the reader think that the paper discusses an  FPGA implementation. If we analyze the entire paper, the FPGA aspects are very marginal. the paper is strongly application-oriented and FPGA implementation regards only PWM implementation.

• thanks for your comment. It was very helpful for us to complete this article.
• We have edited section 2. Firmware Implementation and update more results in Fig 13.
• We would also like to provide the source code of the VHDL_PWM_Generator module to our readers.

2) I don't understand why authors don't use an FPGA based DDS for the generation of the sinusoid signal
Ex. Carlo, C.G., Luca, D.N., Rocco, F., Daniele, G., Marco, M., Alberto, N., Marco, R., Francesca, S., Sergio, S. Comparison between trigonometric and traditional DDS, in 90 nm technology
(2018) Telkomnika (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control), 16 (5), pp. 2245-2253. 
Is it not possible to use a DDS plus a DAC instead of the PWM?

• thanks for your comment. It was very helpful for us to complete this article.
• before doing FPGA design, we have design using PIC (dsPIC33EP64GS506) + DDS (AD9833) + Power Amplifier (ADA4870). The generated sine wave signal is very good with small harmonics. However, the power dissipation on the ADA4870 chip is very large (most of electronic power converted to heat), so the efficiency of this option is very low. Most analog amplifiers do not give output power up to several hundred watts. Meanwhile this is essential for HIFU control circuits. Therefore, we chose the PWM method to be able to select conditions with high power and frequency.

3) Results are clearly exposed but in my opinion, there is a lack of comparison with the literature. Is it possible to compare results with other papers?

• thanks for your comment. It was very helpful for us to complete this article.
• We add more table 11. That is comparison with previous research.

 

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors improved the manuscript following the review and for this reason i will suggest the acceptance of the paper