Flow Rate Profiler: an instrument to measure blood velocity profiles.

In this paper we present Flow Rate Profiler (FRP), an instrument for measuring the blood velocity by means of ultrasound-based techniques. The velocity is directly related to the shear rate, which is in turn proportional to the shear stress, a parameter expressing the pressure exerted by the blood on the vessel walls. The knowledge of this value is important in medicine to establish the state of the vessels, directly related to vascular diseases.