# Wireless MRI with a stand-alone, platform-independent wireless integrated radio-frequency/shim coil array and cloud-based data processing workflow

> **NIH NIH R01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $397,220

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Technical advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have led to a wide range of imaging techniques,
contrast mechanisms, and clinical applications. However, despite marked progress in radio-frequency (RF) and
shim coil technologies, the traditional MRI scanner architecture currently used on virtually all scanners still has
major limitations. RF coil arrays require wired connections to the bulky receiver chain in the scanner and the
machine room via bulky cable assemblies, which can result in long setup times, patient discomfort and motion,
lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from crosstalk, loss of transmit power from power dissipation, and RF burns
from induced currents. These issues are further exacerbated with modern high-channel-count or flexible RF
coil arrays. In addition, conventional low-order spherical harmonic shim coils require wired connections to
amplifiers in the machine room and cannot effectively shim localized static magnetic field inhomogeneities
(∆B0) in the human body, leaving artifacts that severely degrade the image quality in many applications.
We previously proposed two coil designs to address some of these limitations: 1) Our novel integrated
RF/wireless (iRFW) coil design enables MR imaging and the wireless transfer of data from/to peripheral
devices with a single coil array for low-throughput applications such as wireless physiological monitoring, but
not yet for the wireless transfer of MRI data, which requires further development; 2) Our integrated parallel
reception, excitation, and shimming (iPRES) coil design enables MR imaging and an effective shimming of
localized B0 inhomogeneities with a single integrated RF/shim coil array. However, such iRFW and iPRES coil
arrays remain limited by the bulky wired connections and receiver chain required to transfer the MRI data.
Our goal is to address these limitations by developing a highly innovative wireless MRI scanner architecture
based on a stand-alone, platform-independent high-channel-count wireless integrated RF/shim coil array with
on-board received chain and cloud-based data processing workflow that will enable wireless MRI and localized
B0 shimming with a single coil array. This paradigm shift in MRI scanner architecture will eliminate all cables
from the coil array and the bulky receiver chain embedded in the scanner, thus drastically reducing the system
complexity, footprint, and cost, while making the entire receiver chain and data processing workflow (including
with third-party advanced reconstruction methods) compatible with scanners from different manufacturers, and
improving the freedom of positioning, patient comfort, safety, SNR, spatial fidelity, image quality, diagnostic
accuracy, and clinical utility for a wide range of MRI applications throughout the human body. Specifically, we
will develop the technology to enable this novel wireless MRI scanner architecture and we will integrate it with
a 48-channel wireless integrated RF...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10880817
- **Project number:** 1R01EB034659-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Dean Darnell
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $397,220
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10880817

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10880817, Wireless MRI with a stand-alone, platform-independent wireless integrated radio-frequency/shim coil array and cloud-based data processing workflow (1R01EB034659-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10880817. Licensed CC0.

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