An Android-Enabled Modular Self-Interference Cancellation System for Standalone Simultaneous Transmit and Receive Multichannel Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 1.5T

In 1946 Felix Bloch first demonstrated the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance using continuous-wave signal generation and acquisition. Shortly after in 1966, Richard R. Ernst demonstrated the breakthrough that nuclear magnetic resonance needed to develop into magnetic resonance imaging: the application of Fourier transforms for sensitive pulsed imaging. Upon this discovery, the world of research began to develop high power radio amplifiers and fast radio switches for pulsed experimentation. Consequently, continuous-wave imaging placed on the backburner.Although high power pulses are dominant in clinical imaging, there are unique advantages to low power, continuous-wave pulse sequences that transmit and receive signals simultaneously. Primarily, tissues or materials with short T2 time constants can be imaged and the peak radio power required is drastically reduced. The fundamental problem with this lies in its nature; the transmitter leaks a strong leakage signal into the receiver, thus saturating the receiver and the intended nuclear magnetic resonance signal is lost noise. Demonstrated in this dissertation is a multichannel standalone simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) system with remote user-control that enables continuous- wave full-duplex imaging. STAR calibrates cancellation signals through vector modulators that match the leakage signal of each receiver in amplitude but opposite in phase, therefore destructively interfering the leakage signals. STAR does not require specific imaging coils or console inputs for calibration. It was designed to be general- purpose, therefore integrating into any imaging system. To begin, the user uses an Android tablet to tune STAR to match the Larmor frequency in the bore. Then, the user tells STAR to begin calibration. After self-calibrating, the user may fine-tune the calibration state of the system before enabling a low-power mode for system electronics and imaging may commence. STAR was demonstrated to isolate two receiver coils upwards of 70 dB from the transmit coil and is readily upgradable to enable the use of four receive coils. Some primary concerns of STAR are the removal of transceivers for multichannel operation, digital circuit noise, external noise, calibration speed, upgradability, and the isolation introduced; all of which are addressed in the proceeding thesis.