Development of a Parallel Radiofrequency Transmission Subsystem for MRI at 3 Tesla

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Per Vices Corporation is a Toronto-based company that makes high quality software defined radio (SDR)devices. Historically, radios consisted of multiple electronic components with different signal processingfunctions; SDR now enables much of this hardware to be streamlined and performed using a personalcomputer, in communication with a real-time computer embedded in one electronic device. Extensive softwareis now widely available to operate SDRs for many commercial applications, for example intelecommunications and in security.Per Vices is interested in expanding the market for its devices into the healthcare sector. In particular,radiofrequency transmission is a critical element of clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. PerVices hopes to combine their expertise in SDR with that of Dr. Simon Graham, an MRI physicist and engineer,to enable use of Per Vices technology in this context. Per Vices and Dr. Graham will undertake initial researchand development to verify and validate that the company's "Crimson SDR" device facilitates an emergingtechnique called parallel radiofrequency transmission (PTX) on a clinical-grade MRI system. PTX hassubstantial potential to improve clinical MRI capabilities, but the enabling infrastructure is not widelyavailable. If successful, the Crimson SDR could become the central component of a new PTX hardwareproduct that could be sold to the research MRI community, and ultimately to multi-national MRI systemvendors.