Rotating Magnet Arrays as Spatial Encodings for Portable MRI Applications

Motivation: Traditional MRIs are inaccessible in point-of-care scenarios or rural areas; portable MRI devices are proposed but remain inflexible and costly. Goal(s): Prototype a miniature MRI device suitable for various use cases. Approach: Three rotating permanent magnet arrays create unique field map patterns at discrete time steps, providing the base magnetic field and spatially encoding the information. A series of excitation frequencies allow volumetric "slice" selection, where signals are back-projected and overlaid to create the image. Results: Preliminary results from the prototype prove the feasibility of our approach. Simulated results further demonstrate the prototype's capability of 2D imaging at the cost of image quality. Impact: The preliminary prototype embraces inhomogeneity in the base magnetic field, eliciting a new direction for MRI instrumentation. Its ability to produce pilot scans allows for early diagnosis while reducing costs and providing patient comfort, ultimately making MRI technology more accessible.