mrftools: A research framework for integrated design, simulation, acquisition, and reconstruction of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF)

Motivation: Developing robust MRF acquisitions and reconstructions requires meticulous manual tracking of parameters and dependencies, as well as integration of diverse tools. Increasing ease of development and use, regardless of research or clinical purposes, would help with broader adoption and understanding of MRF. Goal(s): Improve tooling to increase MRF research flexibility while maximizing traceability of acquisitions and reconstructions. Approach: Develop a unified Python framework, mrftools, supporting MRF-specific modular sequence abstraction, integration of reconstruction dependencies, and online reconstruction. Results: Built-in support for many common techniques and high extensibility for research use is demonstrated for both sequence and reconstruction development. Impact: By providing a unified framework for sequence development and reconstruction, mrftools streamlines workflow, ensuring traceability and repeatability of MRF for research or clinical usage. Key contributions lie in MRF-specific modular sequence design, the integration of reconstruction dependencies, and online reconstruction.