Juan Córcoles

Pregnant women models analyzed for RF exposure and temperature increase in 3T RF shimmed birdcages

MRI is increasingly used to scan pregnant patients. We investigated the effect of 3 Tesla (T) two‐port radiofrequency (RF) shimming in anatomical pregnant women models.

Mutual Coupling Compensation Matrices for Transmitting and Receiving Arrays

A general method to obtain a matrix which allows the compensation of mutual coupling effects in transmitting arrays for the total field in all directions is introduced. This method is independent of the numerical method used in the analysis and it can include the effect of the antenna platform. The starting point can be the active element patterns or the spherical mode expansion from spherical near-field antenna measurements. Additionally, the spherical mode expansion is also used to find a matrix which allows the compensation of mutual coupling effects in receiving arrays. Through this theory, a simple relation between the compensation matrices of the transmitting and the receiving arrays is found. As a consequence, the scattering matrix of a circuit that allows the simultaneous compensation of mutual coupling effects for the transmission and the reception problem can be easily defined. Finally, it will be shown how the capabilities of the compensation in all directions depend strongly on the array element.

Multiobjective Optimization of Real and Coupled Antenna Array Excitations via Primal-Dual, Interior Point Filter Method From Spherical Mode Expansions

A novel method for the multiobjective optimization of arbitrary planar array excitations is presented. The optimization problem formulation, which inherently takes into account every array element pattern as well as all interelement couplings, is based on matrix-valued functions which are computed from the generalized-scattering-matrix characterization of an array and spherical mode expansions of its radiated field. It allows the maximization of the directive gain subject to a maximum sidelobe level, a maximum crosspolar level and a minimum aperture illumination efficiency, the setting of null-pointing directions and the dynamic range control. To solve the resulting non-linear optimization problem, we have developed a primal-dual interior point method specifically adapted to the presented formulation, which makes use of novel filtering techniques. Numerical examples of arrays of microstrip patches and dielectric resonator antennas covering a wide variety of requirements on these parameters are presented.

Virtual population-based assessment of the impact of 3 Tesla radiofrequency shimming and thermoregulation on safety and B1 + uniformity.

To assess the effect of radiofrequency (RF) shimming of a 3 Tesla (T) two‐port body coil on B1+ uniformity, the local specific absorption rate (SAR), and the local temperature increase as a function of the thermoregulatory response.

Convex optimization of MRI exposure for mitigation of RF-heating from active medical implants

Local RF-heating of elongated medical implants during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may pose a significant health risk to patients. The actual patient risk depends on various parameters including RF magnetic field strength and frequency, MR coil design, patients anatomy, posture, and imaging position, implant location, RF coupling efficiency of the implant, and the bio-physiological responses associated with the induced local heating. We present three constrained convex optimization strategies that incorporate the implants RF-heating characteristics, for the reduction of local heating of medical implants during MRI. The study emphasizes the complementary performances of the different formulations. The analysis demonstrates that RF-induced heating of elongated metallic medical implants can be carefully controlled and balanced against MRI quality. A reduction of heating of up to 25 dB can be achieved at the cost of reduced uniformity in the magnitude of the B(1)(+) field of less than 5%. The current formulations incorporate a priori knowledge of clinically-specific parameters, which is assumed to be available. Before these techniques can be applied practically in the broader clinical context, further investigations are needed to determine whether reduced access to a priori knowledge regarding, e.g. the patients anatomy, implant routing, RF-transmitter, and RF-implant coupling, can be accepted within reasonable levels of uncertainty.

Efficient Combined Array Thinning and Weighting for Pattern Synthesis With a Nested Optimization Scheme

A novel procedure to thin an antenna array which synthesizes a desired pattern with the minimum number of active elements is introduced. The proposed method yields both the active elements and their corresponding excitations of a thinned array having the minimum number of active elements needed to meet several prescribed design specifications of the radiated far-field pattern. Specifications such as achieving a minimum gain, obtaining a pattern with a maximum allowable sidelobe level or synthesizing a shaped beam pattern confined into a mask are considered. Null field directions can also be added. In order to carry out the thinning, a genetic algorithm is used, while computing the excitations is carried out through linear or quadratic programming. The procedure incorporates the generalized scattering matrix analysis of an array made up of elements whose radiated field can be expressed as a spherical mode expansion, thus taking all electromagnetic effects inherently into account. Therefore, since the presence of an element can substantially alter the array features because of mutual coupling, two types of thinning are considered: removing elements or turning them off. Numerical results of arrays made up of isotropic sources, dielectric resonator antennas and microstrip patch antennas are presented.

Spherical-Wave-Based Shaped-Beam Field Synthesis for Planar Arrays Including the Mutual Coupling Effects

An analytical method to synthesize shaped-beam patterns with planar arrays, based on the handling of spherical waves, is proposed. Translational Addition Theorems will be used here for two different purposes: (1) relating the spherical modes produced by each element in the array to calculate the mutual coupling effects, and (2) expressing the field radiated by each element in terms of spherical modes corresponding to the whole array, to carry out a spherical-wave synthesis procedure based on the orthogonal properties of spherical modes. This field synthesis method is based on the fact that any antenna radiated field can be expressed as a discrete series of weighted spherical vector wave functions and it only requires the a priori knowledge of the Generalized Scattering Matrix of each array element considered as isolated from the rest of the array elements.

Modal Network Model for MIMO Antenna in-System Optimization

The analysis of MIMO systems is described with the aid of a novel modal network model. For this purpose the capacity performance of typical base station and mobile station antennas in a simulated macro-cellular scenario with varying antenna inter element spacings and antenna rotation will be studied. The model is based on the modal description of typical receiving and transmitting antennas. In this manner a significant simulation time reduction is achieved which allows for faster analysis and optimization. To prove this the effects of both the mobile and base station antennas are investigated. Moreover, for the more restrictive case of base station antennas, a fully modal descriptive model is proven to yield very similar results as those from measured commercial antennas. It is found that the modal approach improves simulation speed without loss of accuracy or generality. Simulations are done for the city of Karlsruhe with a three-dimensional Ray-tracing tool.

Electromagnetic Scattering at the Waveguide Step between Equilateral Triangular Waveguides

The analysis of the electromagnetic scattering at discontinuities between equilateral triangular waveguides is studied. The complete electromagnetic solution is derived using analytical closed form expressions for the mode spectrum of the equilateral waveguide. The mathematical formulation of the electromagnetic scattering problem is based on the quasi-analytical Mode-Matching method. This method benefits from the electromagnetic field division into symmetries as well as from the plane wave formulation presented for the expressions involved. The unification of the surface integrals used in the method thanks to the plane wave formulation is revealed, leading to expressions that are very well suited for its implementation in an electromagnetic analysis and design code. The obtained results for some cases of interest (building blocks for microwave components for communication systems) are verified using other numerical methods included in a commercial software package, showing the potential of the presented approach based on quasi-analytic expressions.

RF shimming with implant safety control in MRI transmit arrays through second-order cone programming

Inside a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) birdcage, the patient is subjected to the static magnetic field B 0 generated by a magnet, and the radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field B 1 , usually generated by a transmit array. A common technique used in MRI to achieve a higher image quality is RF shimming. It aims to maximize the homogeneity of the B 1 field over the desired region by properly adjusting the driving excitations of channels in the MRI transmit array. Several strategies have been followed to achieve this objective. One of the most successful ones is minimizing the mean square error (MSE) of the magnitude of the B 1 field with respect to a reference value.