Application
Calculates first-pass capacitances to aid in construction and simulation of birdcage coils.
Contributors
Douglas Brantner1,2, Giuseppe Carluccio1,2, Chih-Liang Chin3, Christopher Collins1,2
Estimated cost
Free
Progress
Beta 0.0.8, AGPL 3.0 License – Working, results validated against previous versions; need to update documentation & unit tests (WIP).
Open BirdcageBuilder is a calculator for capacitors for cylindrical birdcage RF coils. It supports Low Pass, High Pass, and Band Pass type coils, as well as flat or tubular legs & end rings. This 2023 update is the first Open Source version, adapted from the previous Android app (2013), Java applet, and the original 2002 Visual Basic version. It was re-written in Javascript and responsive HTML/CSS as a lightweight, cross-platform GUI, designed to run in any modern web browser, on any device (phone, desktop, tablet, etc.). The open source code can also be downloaded in advance to run completely offline, without internet connection.
This freely-available open-source version of the BirdcageBuilder software facilitates rapid design of birdcage coils and allows improvement by the MR community. Additional functionalities could include prediction of all resonances of a coil, noncylindrical coils, and output of a CAD model.
Publications
Chin CL, Collins CM, Li S, Dardzinski BJ, Smith MB. BirdcageBuilder: Design of specified-geometry birdcage coils with desired current pattern and resonant frequency. Concepts Magn Reson. 2002;15(2):156-163. doi:10.1002/cmr.10030 PubMed Free Full Text
Brantner D, Carluccio G, Chin CL, Collins C. Open BirdcageBuilder. Submitted to ISMRM 2024; awaiting review & acceptance.
Affiliations
1 Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
2 Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
3 Merck