Wireless MRI Receive Arrays: Incorporating UWB Data Links and Vitals Sensing

Motivation: Wireless technology has largely bypassed MRI. In an era of wireless earbuds and cell phones, MRI receive arrays remain hindered by bulky cabling and the commensurate RF baluns, and coax coupling that degrade performance. The simple act of adjusting the cable routing inside the MRI bore is a commonplace nuisance and source of lost time for patient handling. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to cut the cord - to demonstrate fully functional wireless receive array technology. This capability will open new avenues for array design and applications. It will become possible to create an open interface standard that is vendor- agnostic. Through wireless operation, arrays can finally be made wearable, without fear of mechanical fragility of the connections, thereby bringing the full SNR potential of wearable arrays to fruition. Approach: To architect MRI wireless arrays, we will develop all the necessary support technology, including wireless power transfer, low-power balun-free MRI receiver electronics, wireless coil Q-spoiling, ultra-wide band microwave short-range serial links, and microwave phase and motion synchronization systems. Notably, we can achieve these goals without need of custom IC fabrication for wireless interfaces. We will also leverage the compressibility of MRI k-space data by factors of 3x or more, to stream MRI data over multiple band-limited microwave channels. Moreover, we will leverage these added microwave fields to support motion, respiratory and cardiac sensing, to effectively provide non-contact vital signs sensing as a free byproduct of the wireless approach. The wireless arrays will be constructed and compared to geometrically equivalent topologies, for image quality and safety. The net outcome will be a wireless array with data transmission recovered and streamed over gigabit ethernet links to standard network interfaces. This approach will provide excellent synergy with recent efforts to make wearable lightweight conformable MRI receive arrays. Significance: The result of this project will overcome a common irritant and inhibitor of MRI receive arrays by removing the cable interface. This will enable wearable arrays to achieve their full imaging potential, while providing an interface that is vendor neutral, safer, and cheaper.