A Single Oscillating Waveform-based Gradient Delay Estimation

Motivation: The study was motivated by substantially reducing the calibration scan time for gradient delay estimation in spiral imaging. Goal(s): we only acquire a single spiral readout along each channel for delay estimation, which enables a substantial reduction in the calibration scan time. Approach: Our proposed method of SODA estimates the delay by calculating the relative shift between the MR spectrums required in a single scan as the k-space trajectory progresses from the negative kx direction to the positive kx direction and vice versa, i.e., from +kx to -kx. Results: The delay values demonstrated robust agreement and consistency between SODA and the reference. Impact: The SODA method delivers accurate delay estimates within extremely short scan time (about 50 ms). This technique can seamlessly integrate with any host sequence to correct k-space location errors stemming from gradient delays.