The Z-MRI project aims to additionally strengthen the market position of the Netherlands as one of the world leading manufacturers of medical technology. Philips, a global, leading manufacturer of medical scanners with rich expertise in advanced medical technology, and TU Delft a leading research university with strong track record in real-time, networked embedded systems and custom computing, will join forces to make MRI technology faster, more reliable and cost effective.
Better clock control required
Clock control and digital data transport in MR environment are complicated. The huge magnetic fields as used in transmit generates destructive currents in every galvanic cable that is not properly frequency tuned. At the same time, the MR useful signal is extremely small and can be easily masked by interference. In addition, a highly accurate clock in terms of phase noise and jitter is needed of accurate digitization of the signal. To address the above, Z-MRI will build the necessary knowledge of a digital network and its real-time computation nodes that can guarantee the target clock performance and required data transport capabilities.