A Cylindrical Wireless Metasurface‐Based Coil for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Enhancement of Fruits and Vegetables

ABSTRACT Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly popular for noninvasive quality inspection of fruits and vegetables in the food supply chain (FSC). The signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) serves as a crucial performance metric in MRI, the enhancement of which can be exchanged for elevated image clarity or reduced acquisition time. In this paper, a cylindrical wireless metasurface‐based coil (CWMC) is proposed to enhance the SNR of 1.5 T MRI system for fruits and vegetables. The self‐detuning circuits (SCs) of CWMC causes it to be detuned in the transmitting stage (TS), and make it resonate at 63.8 MHz in the receiving stage (RS), which not only eliminates interference with the B 1 field but also significantly boosts the B 1 – field received by the volume coil (VC). According to the MRI results, the implementation of CWMC has boosted the SNR by 8.9 times as the VC works in the transmit‐and‐receive scenario, surpassing the SNR achieved with a 12‐channel receiving coil (12ch‐RC). Furthermore, the CWMC demonstrates compatibility with common MRI sequences, and induces low specific absorption rate (SAR) values. The proposed CWMC is wireless and convenient, which can make the quality inspection of fruits and vegetables more efficient in 1.5 T MRI system. And it demonstrates considerable potential on promoting the development of food quality assessment technologies.