MaRCoS, an open-source electronic control system for low-field MRI

Abstract

Every magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device requires an electronic control system that handles pulse sequences and signal detection and processing. Here we provide details on the architecture and performance of MaRCoS, a MAgnetic Resonance COntrol System developed by an open international community of low-field MRI researchers. MaRCoS is inexpensive and can handle cycle-accurate sequences without hard length limitations, rapid bursts of events, and arbitrary waveforms. It can also be easily adapted to meet further specifications required by the various academic and private institutions participating in its development. We describe the MaRCoS hardware, firmware and software that enable all of the above, including a Python-based graphical user interface for pulse sequence implementation, data processing and image reconstruction. II. SYSTEM GOALS AND OVERVIEWMaRCoS was started by a partnership of low-field MRI academic groups [3] aiming to replace a range of proprietary consoles with a unified, inexpensive yet high-performance platform suitable for some unconventional experiments.

Benchmarking the performance of a low‐cost magnetic resonance control system at multiple sites in the open MaRCoS community

“…This implies that the phase and magnitude of control pulses, as well as their timing, are all sufficiently stable for demanding MRI applications. Other relevant measurements on the performance of MaRCoS can be found in Reference 1 . Note: T E in RARE sequences corresponds to the effective echo time.…”

“…MaRCoS (Magnetic Resonance Control System) is a low-cost, high-performance console developed to fulfill the requirements of a rapidly expanding low-field MRI (LF-MRI) community. [1][2][3] LF-MRI is developing as a customizable and affordable complement to standard high-field MRI (>1 T), which is an expensive medical imaging modality in terms of purchase cost, maintenance, siting, and training, and consequently is concentrated in large hospitals in the economically developed world. [4][5][6][7][8] In the last few years, LF-MRI has demonstrated its value for point-of-care imaging, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] home healthcare, 16 quantitative MRI and fingerprinting, 17,18 hard-tissue imaging, [19][20][21] and artifact-free imaging of metallic implants, 16,22 as well as educational purposes, 23 among others.…”