New Software Platform May Lead to Breakthroughs in MRI Design
May 19, 2010 – 10:14 pm
A trans-Atlantic partnership between Canada’s National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics (NRC-IBD) and Switzerland’s Schmid & Partner Engineering AG (SPEAG) has produced a new software platform for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner design. The platform reportedly seamlessly integrates new tools for radio-frequency (RF) array design and postprocessing. Described as the first software of its kind to combine all the tools needed to design RF-phased arrays into a single user-friendly program, it may lay the groundwork for future breakthroughs in MRI system design, according to the companies.
On their own, NRC-IBD and SPEAG have developed coil design tools: SPEAG’s SEMCAD X Solution provides magnetic field design tools for the design of MRI systems. NRC-IBD’s Musaik RF Array Designer software analyses and displays multichannel MRI data using various signal reconstruction techniques with either simulated or experimental input data. The agreement announced yesterday makes SPEAG the exclusive provider of NRC’s Musaik software.
With the urgent need for faster, better, less-expensive healthcare technologies, it is anticipated that experts in the global MRI community will recognize the value in the new software platform, notes the press release issued by the partners.
The adoption of multichannel MRI systems using parallel imaging has added a layer of complexity to the design and optimisation of receive coil arrays. Optimisation techniques and performance verification are essential steps for designing coil arrays. The combined NRC-SPEAG software platform provides coil designers with the advanced tools needed to analyse, predict and simulate array elements, according to the press release, which details further features and specifications.
Tags: MRI design, Musaik, NRC-IBD, SEMCAD X, SPEAG
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