A Millimeter-Wave Digital Link for Wireless MRI

Abstract

A millimeter (mm) wave radio is presented in this work to support wireless MRI data transmission. High path loss and availability of wide bandwidth make mm-waves an ideal candidate for short range, high data rata communication required for wireless MRI. The proposed system uses a custom designed integrated chip (IC) mm-wave radio with 60 GHz as radio frequency carrier. In this work, we assess performance in a 1.5 T MRI field, with the addition of optical links between the console room and magnet. The system uses ON-OFF keying (OOK) modulation for data transmission and supports data rates from 200 Mb/s to 2.5 Gb/s for distances up-to 65 cm. The presence of highly directional, linearly polarized, on-chip dipole antennas on the mm-wave radio along with the time division multiplexing (TDM) circuitry allows multiple wireless links to be created simultaneously with minimal inter-channel interference. This leads to a highly scalable solution for wireless MRI.

Volumetric wireless coil based on periodically coupled split‐loop resonators for clinical wrist imaging

“…First, when the WLC is used for receiving, the signal is transmitted based on a microwave link from a modified receive coil to a dedicated receiver. The microwave link systems may utilize, for example, amplitude and frequency modulation, parametric upconversion and analog–digital conversion of the data . However, this technique requires additional electronics.…”

“…The microwave link systems may utilize, for example, amplitude 4 and frequency 5 modulation, parametric upconversion 6,7 and analog-digital conversion of the data. 8 However, this technique requires additional electronics.…”

Integrated radio‐frequency/wireless coil design for simultaneous MR image acquisition and wireless communication

“…Additionally, peripheral systems also require connections to transfer data from/to the scanner room, for example, to: correct for subject motion using cameras, perform physiological monitoring using sensors (e.g., heartbeat and breathing), perform field monitoring using NMR probes, and present stimuli to, or record responses from, subjects during functional MRI. Currently, all of these data are typically transferred through a large network of wired connections to the scanner that require careful cable routing and RF filtering to maintain the data integrity and MR image quality, thereby increasing the cost and maintenance of the system …”

“…To reduce the number of wired connections and connectors, other groups have proposed additional antenna systems to wirelessly transfer data between the RF coil array and the scanner . However, these prototype solutions require dipole antennas, “sniffer" coils, and supporting subsystems (e.g., fiber optic cables, splitters, etc.) to be added both to the RF coil array and within the scanner bore to enable the wireless data transfer, which adds complexity and cost to the RF system.…”

“…Currently, all of these data are typically transferred through a large network of wired connections to the scanner that require careful cable routing and RF filtering to maintain the data integrity and MR image quality, thereby increasing the cost and maintenance of the system. 9 To reduce the number of wired connections and connectors, other groups have proposed additional antenna systems to wirelessly transfer data between the RF coil array and the scanner. 9,10 However, these prototype solutions require dipole antennas, 9 "sniffer" coils, 10 and supporting subsystems (e.g., fiber optic cables, splitters, etc.)…”