Open-Source Console Software for the MRI4ALL Hackathon Scanner

Motivation: Commercial MRI scanners have limited accessibility due to high costs and the proprietary nature of the hardware and software platforms. Goal(s): To develop a comprehensive console software for community-built low-field MRI systems that is solely based on open-source components and provides a user interface similar to commercial systems. Approach: The console software was programmed in the Python programming language. The platform is divided into three decoupled services that 1) provide the interface for scan planning and visualization, 2) run the scanner control, and 3) perform the image reconstruction. Results: The architecture is described, providing a starting point for utilizing it in other projects. Impact: The development of open-source MRI software and hardware will help to disseminate fundamental knowledge about the construction of MRI scanners. The software platform described in this work may serve as foundation for future community initiatives on building open-source scanners.