A Computer-on-Module Based High-Performance Control Interface with Gigabit Ethernet for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Spectrometer

Abstract

Abstract:

A control interface for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) spectrometer was presented. The control interface connects the host computer and the MRI spectrometer, which has the following functionalities: supervising the operation of pulse programmer and receiver, using direct memory access (DMA) and transferring the processed data via Gigabit Ethernet transmission. The real-time interaction between the host PC and the spectrometer is achieved through two Ethernet links. Its scalable hardware consists of a computer-on-module (COM) and a carrier. The COM possesses a high-performance CPU, which has both Cotex-A8 and DSP sub-units. The software, including Linux kernel, drivers and a console server, was developed for the board. Tests show that this scalable structure can achieve high data processing & transmission speed. With features such as low-cost and highly-integrated characteristics, the control interface is suitable for most MRI spectrometers, especially for portable ones.

Key words: magnetic resonance imaging, spectrometer, computer-on-module, control interface

CLC Number:

O482.53

WANG Hong, XIONG Ze-Chong, LIN Xian-Chai, WANG Wei-Min. A Computer-on-Module Based High-Performance Control Interface with Gigabit Ethernet for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Spectrometer[J]. Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 2012, 29(4): 499-507.

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