The National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics (NRC-IBD) has teamed up with Schmid & Partner Engineering AG (SPEAG) of Zurich, Switzerland, to offer a ‘unique’ software platform for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner design. Through the agreement, SPEAG becomes the exclusive provider of NRC’s MusaikTM software. The new platform integrates powerful new tools for RF array design and post-processing, and is claimed to be the first software of its kind to combine all the tools needed to design RF-phased arrays into a single user friendly program.

Both companies have each developed leading-edge design tools that together offer unparalleled capacity for coil design. SPEAG’s SEMCAD X SOLUTION provides customers with magnetic field design tools for the design of MRI systems, while NRC-IBD’s Musaik RF Array Designer software analyzes and displays multi-channel MRI data using various signal reconstruction techniques with either simulated or experimental input data.

With the urgent need for faster, better, less expensive healthcare technologies, it is anticipated that experts in the global MRI community will recognize the value in the new software platform. It is expected that the combination of Musaik and SEMCAD will lay the groundwork for future breakthroughs in MRI system design.

Dr. Michael Oberle, Head Medical Technology at SPEAG, commented, “SPEAG’s expertise and solutions in simulation, design, optimization and experimental validation, combined with NRC’s in-depth understanding of RF coil array technology, allows us to jointly provide comprehensive tools to the MRI design community.”