Signal Loss Compensation of RF Crossbar Switch Matrix System in Ultra-High Field MRI

With the increased commercial availability of high channel count MR coil arrays and the associated higher number of plugs in the patient bed, it has become a common practice to include switch matrices in the receive path of MR systems. These allow the arbitrary routing of a signal from any plug to any receiver in the console. While switch matrices are standard in systems at clinical field strength and have been developed for systems operating up to 4T, they have not yet been implemented at ultra-high field (UHF). Here, we present a switch matrix suitable for operation at UHF. Crossbar switches, which are the most frequently employed forms of a switch matrix, use RF switches to connect horizontal input lines with the desired vertical output line. This leaves transmission line stubs of variable length physically connected with the selected signal path, potentially resulting in elevated signal losses. While this can be tolerated at low frequencies, and only needs partial compensation at intermediate frequencies (4T), a full compensation is required at UHF. In this study, an RF crossbar switch, which uses switchable compensation elements in both horizontal and vertical transmission lines, was implemented for a 9.4T MRI scanner. The prototype developed was evaluated for single channel and multichannel receive performance and benchmarked against a fixed wire connection.