A low-cost scalable multichannel digital receiver for magnetic resonance imaging

Commercial receivers used for parallel MR imaging often present researchers with hurdles such as high cost-per-channel, low scalability for multiple coils and non-accessibility to intermediate data for research. A novel low-cost multichannel digital receiver for use with MR scanners has been developed to alleviate these concerns. MR signals from up to 16 coils are bandpass sampled at RF, with all subsequent downconversion performed on a single-chip Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Downconverted information is buffered and can be downloaded over a network or onto flash memory for image reconstruction. Arrays with more than 16 coils can easily scale by using more than one of these economical receivers. A 2-channel prototype has been designed, built and tested successfully with a combination of real-world signals and simulated MR data.