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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical imaging technique based on a phenomenon of nuclear physics discovered in the 1930s, in which matter exposed to magnetic fields and radio waves was found to emit radio signals. In 1970, a physician and researcher named Raymond Damadian noticed that malignant (cancerous) tissue gave off different signals than normal body tissue. He applied for a patent for the first MRI scanning device in clinical use by the early 1980s. The early MRI...
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The number of nuclear spins aligned in the lower energy state is slightly greater than those in the higher energy state. In the presence of an external magnetic field, as the spins precess at the Larmor frequency, the excess population results in a net magnetization oriented along the z axis. When a pulse or a short burst of radio waves at the Larmor frequency is applied along the x axis, the coupling of frequencies causes resonance and flips the nuclear spins of the excess population from the...
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gr-MRI: A software package for magnetic resonance imaging using software defined radios.

Christopher J Hasselwander1, Zhipeng Cao1, William A Grissom2

  • 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, USA.

Journal of Magnetic Resonance (San Diego, Calif. : 1997)
|July 11, 2016
PubMed
Summary

This study introduces gr-MRI software for building low-cost, custom Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) spectrometers using software-defined radios (SDRs). The developed system achieves high-fidelity imaging comparable to commercial spectrometers.

Keywords:
Frequency-swept RF pulsesMRIOpen-source softwareSoftware-defined radioSpectrometers

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Area of Science:

  • Medical Imaging
  • Radio Frequency Engineering
  • Software Development

Background:

  • Commercial MRI spectrometers are expensive and proprietary.
  • Software-defined radios (SDRs) offer flexible and cost-effective hardware platforms for RF applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate a software package (gr-MRI) for implementing custom MRI spectrometers using affordable SDR hardware.
  • To assess the performance, fidelity, and cost-effectiveness of an SDR-based MRI system compared to a commercial spectrometer.

Main Methods:

  • Developed the gr-MRI software package for GNU Radio, including pulse sequences and processing tools.
  • Utilized two commercial SDRs (approx. $2000 total cost) for RF excitation, reception, and gradient pulse generation.
  • Performed phantom imaging scans with a 0.5T tabletop MRI scanner and evaluated system synchronization and RF waveform generation.

Main Results:

  • SDR-based MRI system successfully generated spin echo images with geometric accuracy matching commercial spectrometer results.
  • Identified and mitigated radio desynchronization events, primarily occurring at the scan's start.
  • SDR demonstrated high-fidelity frequency-swept RF pulse generation (500kHz bandwidth), outperforming the commercial spectrometer's waveform quality.

Conclusions:

  • The gr-MRI software enables the rapid development of high-fidelity, low-cost custom MRI spectrometers.
  • SDRs provide a viable and economical alternative for building specialized MRI systems.
  • The validated software and hardware approach facilitates custom MRI research and development.