| dc.description.abstract |
<p>Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems rely on wired radio-frequency (RF) coil
arrays placed near the anatomical region of interest to acquire images. However, these
wired arrays have a long setup time and RF currents induced on their cables can potentially
burn nearby tissue. A novel coil design, termed an integrated RF/wireless (iRFW) coil,
eliminates these issues by removing the cabled connection between the coil array and
the scanner. In lieu of transmitting the acquired signal through wired connections,
the iRFW coil transmits data wirelessly over the air at a WiFi frequency (2.442 GHz).Previous
work has shown that the iRFW coil can be used for low data rate applications (e.g.,
~10 Megabytes/sec), but further investigation at higher data rates (~300 Megabytes/sec)
is needed in order to adequately transfer acquired MR image data. Electromagnetic
simulations are performed in this study to computationally determine the optimal iRFW
coil size and position in the MRI scanner bore. The simulations determine: 1. The
similarity in MR signal-to-noise ratio between a traditional RF coil and an iRFW coil,
2. The amount of localized heating in a human subject’s body due to the transmitted
wireless signal, 3. The strength of the wireless data transmission between the iRFW
coil inside the scanner bore and connecting antennas outside the bore for different
coil sizes and positions, and 4. The stability of the wireless transmission link for
the optimal coil size and position with different subject body lengths. The optimal
coil size and position are determined by considering the trade-off between reducing
localized heating in human subject tissue and maximizing the transmission link between
the iRFW coil and adjacent antennas. Completed simulations indicate that specific
coil sizes and positions do result in an improved connection. In future work, these
simulations will be validated by a physical model.
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