1. An apparatus for generating a pulsed electric field waveform for inducing controlled renal neuromodulation, the apparatus comprising:
a pulse generator; and
a controller including a medium containing instructions that cause the pulse generator to generate a first electric pulse at a first energy insufficient to induce irreversible electroporation andor electrofusion, and a second electric pulse at a second energy sufficient to induce irreversible electroporation andor electrofusion in a neural fiber that contributes to renal function of a patient,
wherein the apparatus is configured to deliver the electric pulses generated by the pulse generator from within vasculature of the patient, and wherein the electric pulse energies are determined based at least in part on a diameter of the vasculature in which the electric pulses are delivered.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second energy is greater than the first energy.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the generator to deliver the first electric pulse before delivering the second electric pulse.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determined electric pulse energies are increased with increasing vessel diameter.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first electric pulse comprises a first pulse duration and the second electric pulse comprises a second pulse duration, and wherein the first pulse duration is different than the second pulse duration.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to generate at least one additional electric pulse.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the additional electric pulse is of equal or greater energy than the second energy of the second electric pulse.
8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to generate the first, second and additional pulses in direct succession, and wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to insert a time interval between delivery of the first pulse and the second pulse that is different than a time interval between delivery of the second pulse and the additional pulse.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to generate a plurality of electric pulses, the plurality including the first and second electric pulses, each electric pulse of the plurality of electric pulses comprising:
a pulse amplitude
a pulse duration; and
a time interval between delivery of subsequent pulses.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to vary the pulse duration among electric pulses of the plurality of pulses.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to vary the time interval between deliveries of subsequent pulses among electric pulses of the plurality of pulses.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to vary the pulse amplitude among electric pulses of the plurality of pulses.
13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of electric pulses generated by the pulse generator comprises electric pulses chosen from the group consisting of DC electric pulses, AC electric pulses, exponentially-decaying electric pulses and combinations thereof.
14. An apparatus for generating a pulsed electric field waveform for inducing controlled renal neuromodulation, the apparatus comprising:
a pulse generator; and
a controller including a medium containing instructions that cause the pulse generator to generate a first electric pulse at a first energy insufficient to induce irreversible electroporation andor electrofusion, and a second electric pulse at a second energy sufficient to induce irreversible electroporation andor electrofusion in a neural fiber that contributes to renal function of a patient,
wherein the apparatus is configured to deliver the electric pulses generated by the pulse generator from within vasculature of the patient, and wherein the electric pulse energies are determined based at least in part on whether the apparatus temporarily has blocked blood flow within the vasculature.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the determined electric pulse energies are decreased when the apparatus temporarily has blocked blood flow within the vasculature.
16. A method for inducing controlled renal neuromodulation, the method comprising:
positioning at least one electrode within vasculature of the patient and proximate to a neural fiber that contributes to renal function of a patient, the neural fiber having a threshold beyond which electroporation is irreversible andor electrofusion occurs;
delivering a pulsed electric field via the electrode to modulate the neural fiber, wherein the pulsed electric field comprises a first electric pulse with a first energy below the threshold, and a second electric pulse with a second energy above the threshold; and
determining the electric pulse energies based at least in part on a diameter of the vasculature in which the electrode is positioned.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein delivering the pulsed electric field further comprises delivering the first electric pulse before delivering the second electric pulse.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the electric pulse energies further comprises increasing the electric pulse energies as vessel diameter increases.
19. The method of claim 16 further comprising temporarily blocking blood flow within the vasculature in a vicinity of the electrode.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein temporarily blocking blood flow further comprises reducing the electric pulse energies.
21. The method of claim 16 further comprising monitoring electroporation andor electrofusion in tissue exposed to the pulsed electric field.
22. The method of claim 21 further comprising altering the pulsed electric field in response to monitoring data.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein altering the pulsed electric field further comprises varying at least one parameter of the pulsed electric field in response to the monitoring data.
24. The method of claim 16, wherein delivering the pulsed electric field further comprises orienting the pulsed electric field with a longitudinal dimension of the neural fiber that contributes to renal function.
25. The method of claim 16 further comprising providing the threshold.
26. An apparatus for generating a pulsed electric field waveform for inducing controlled renal neuromodulation, comprising:
a pulse generator; and
a controller including a medium containing instructions that cause the pulse generator to generate a pulsed electric field waveform having waveform parameters configured to induce irreversible electroporation andor electrofusion in a neural fiber that contributes to renal function of a patient when the waveform is delivered within vasculature of the patient,
wherein at least one of the waveform parameters is determined based on a diameter of the vasculature in which the pulsed electric field waveform is delivered.
27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein an energy of the pulsed electric field waveform is increased with increasing vessel diameter.
28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions cause the pulse generator to vary at least one of the waveform parameters among electric pulses of the waveform.
29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the waveform parameters are chosen from the group consisting of energy, field strength, pulse amplitude, pulse shape, pulse duration, interval between subsequent pulses, and combinations thereof.
30. An apparatus for generating a pulsed electric field for controlling neuromodulation in a neural fiber that contributes to renal function of a patient, the neural fiber having a threshold beyond which electroporation is irreversible andor electrofusion occurs, the apparatus comprising:
a pulsed field generator; and
a control system operatively coupled to the pulsed field generator, the control system including a medium containing instructions that cause the pulsed field generator to generate a first pulse at an energy below the threshold and a second pulse at an energy above the threshold,
wherein the apparatus is configured to deliver the pulses generated by the pulsed field generator from within vasculature of the patient, and
wherein the pulse energies are determined based at least in part on a diameter of the vasculature in which the pulses are delivered.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system comprising:
a radar signal radiator configured to transmit radar signal pulses having a partial bandwidth at a regular interval, wherein said partial bandwidth is a portion of a full bandwidth that said radar signal radiator is designed to generate,
a receiver configured to receive radar signals returned in response to said transmitted radar signal pulses, and
a processor configured to extrapolate said received signals to said full bandwidth, to thereby create high resolution SAR images.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein said radar signal radiator is further configured to transmit said radar signal pulses at 50% of said full bandwidth.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein said radar signal radiator is further configured to transmit said radar signal pulses at 51% to 90% of said full bandwidth.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein said radar signal radiator is further configured to transmit a first pulse and a second pulse in an alternating pattern, wherein the bandwidth of said first pulse is at a lower spectrum portion of said full bandwidth, and the bandwidth of said second pulse is at an upper spectrum portion of said full bandwidth.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein said regular interval is 100% of a pulse repetition interval which said radar signal radiator uses to form unambiguous high resolution SAR imagery.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein said regular interval is 50% of a pulse repetition interval which said radar signal radiator uses to form unambiguous high resolution SAR imagery.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein said radiator and receiver are implemented on a pulse-Doppler SAR.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein said processor is disposed at a remote location from said radiator and receiver.
9. A method of reducing ambiguities in radar images collected by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems, said method comprising:
transmitting radar signal pulses having a partial bandwidth at a regular interval, wherein said partial bandwidth is a portion of a full bandwidth required for a high resolution SAR image,
receiving radar signals returned in response to said transmitted radar signal pulses, and
extrapolating said received signals to said full bandwidth, to thereby reduce ambiguities in the radar images.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
transmitting said radar signal pulses at 50% of said full bandwidth.
11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
transmitting said radar signal pulses at 50% to 90% of said full bandwidth.
12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
transmitting a first pulse train and a second pulse train in an alternating pattern, wherein the bandwidth of said first pulse train is at a lower spectrum portion of said full bandwidth, and the bandwidth of said second pulse train is at an upper spectrum portion of said full bandwidth, and the aggregate bandwidth of the two pulse trains covers the bandwidth required for a high resolution SAR image.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein said regular interval is 100% of a pulse repetition interval which said SAR uses to form unambiguous high resolution SAR imagery.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein said regular interval is 50% of a pulse repetition interval which said SAR uses to form unambiguous high resolution SAR imagery.