access icon free Reconfigurable multi-channel RF crossbar switch matrix for MRI receiver front-end

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Received 08/12/2016, Published 08/02/2017

In this Letter, a highly reconfigurable crossbar transmission line switch matrix for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is proposed. Unlike the conventional M × N crossbar switch configuration, the proposed structure can manipulate 2M × N matrix without doubling the area occupancy. Also, the proposed structure includes the signal loss-compensation circuitry based on inductor banks to enhance signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Thus, for any required numbers of input and output channels, the proposed structure can reduce the overall size, the number of required component, and even increase the quality of MR images by SNR enhancement. The proposed structure was implemented and verified at 4-Tesla (170 MHz) MR system through the comparison of RF path loss, SNR and phantom test image qualities.

Inspec keywords: image enhancement; biomedical MRI; radio receivers; wireless channels; inductors; medical image processing; matrix algebra

Other keywords: magnetic flux density 4 tesla; magnetic resonance imaging system; reconfigurable multichannel RF crossbar switch matrix; signal-to-noise ratio; signal loss-compensation circuitry; SNR enhancement; RF path loss; reconfigurable crossbar transmission line switch matrix; inductor bank; phantom test image quality; frequency 170 MHz; MRI receiver front-end

Subjects: Biology and medical computing; Inductors and transformers; Algebra; Radio links and equipment; Computer vision and image processing techniques; Biomedical magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy; Algebra, set theory, and graph theory; Algebra; Optical, image and video signal processing; Medical magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy; Patient diagnostic methods and instrumentation

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      • 6. Biber, S.: ‘Magnetic resonance acquisition system, receiver antenna module, transmission signal reception module, magnetic resonance system and method to transfer MR response signals’. US Patent, 8384388, February2013.
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