Streamoscope: A Low-Cost, Open-Source, USB-3-Capable Streaming Data Acquisition System for Low-Field MRI

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a powerful, safe imaging technique based on using magnetism to provide contrast between soft tissues. Portable, low-field MRI is a growing area that has already demonstrated value in both educational and clinical domains. Low-field MRI systems need to acquire data with sample rates in the tens of megahertz, which can make the data acquisition system the bulk of the overall cost of low-cost systems. This work presents the Streamoscope: an open-source data acquisition system designed for low-field MRI that streams two 14-bit resolution channels at 60 megasamples per second over USB-3 into Python. It is approximately $300 in parts, about a quarter of the price of the cheapest data acquisition system on the market that would work in our case study. The Streamoscope can stream full-sample-rate raw MRI data into a computer to be processed in Python, enabling real time imaging. The system has been validated by generating 2D images of a phantom on a system with an 8 MHz Larmor frequency.