ISMRM 23rd Annual Meeting & Exhibition • 30 May - 05 June 2015 • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
WEEKEND EDUCATIONAL COURSE
RF Engineering: Coils
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate
ORGANIZERS: Nicola F. De Zanche, Ph.D. & Graham C. Wiggins, D.Phil.
Sunday, 31 May 2015
 
OVERVIEW
In this one-day course, the principles of RF coils used to detect and excite the MR signals will be discussed, beginning with the transmission lines that interconnect the coils to the MR system, and extending to single surface and volume coils and finally RF coil arrays for both transmit and receive. A discussion of the RF modeling tools used to analyze these coils and coil arrays, and their interaction with the patient and the environment will lead into the interaction of RF fields with other objects in the MR environment. The course will conclude with a live demonstration (or by video and live commentary) of the construction and tuning of RF coils for humans and animals.
 
TARGET AUDIENCE
MR technicians, medical physicists, scientists and engineers with an interest in understanding physical principles behind MR safety issues related to RF fields, and/or the construction, design or use of RF coils and RF coil arrays.
 
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the basic theory, design and construction of single and multi-tuned RF coils and their feed networks;
  • Illustrate the principles of operation and basic applications of receive and transmit RF coil arrays; and
  • Compare the major methods of RF modeling commonly in use and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each.
 

PROGRAM

Moderators: Andreas K. Bitz, Ph.D. & Graeme C. McKinnon, Ph.D.
     
    RF Basics
08:30 Basics of Transmission Lines & Wave Guidance
 Steven M. Wright, Ph.D.
09:00 Volume & Surface Coils
Ed B. Boskamp, Ph.D.
09:30 Multi-Tuned Coils
Ryan J. Brown, Ph.D.
     
10:00   Break & Meet the Teachers
     
    RF Arrays
10:30 Receive Arrays & Circuitry
Boris R. Keil, Ph.D.
11:00 Transmit Arrays & Circuitry
Mark E. Ladd, Ph.D.
11:30 RF Modelling
 Bei Zhang, Ph.D.
     
12:00   Lunch & Meet the Teachers
     
    Emerging RF Coils and Technologies
14:00 Dielectric Materials & Resonators
Sebastian A. Aussenhofer, Dipl.-Ing.(FH)
14:30 Dipoles & Traveling Waves
 Alexander J. E. Raaijmakers, Ph.D.
     
15:00   Break & Meet the Teachers
     
    Live Construction of Coils
15:30 Construction of Rx Arrays
Blaine A. Chronik, Ph.D.
Kyle M. Gilbert, Ph.D.
Ravi S. Menon, Ph.D.
     
16:15   Adjournment & Meet the Teachers