A system for the real-time analysis of
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) time series is developed.
The system is composed of an MR scanner subsystem for data acquisition
and paradigm control, a computational server (a PC cluster) for real-time
fMRI data analysis, and a storage device for storing data. The system
exploits the advantages of parallel computing, coupled with an efficient
general linear model (GLM) coefficient estimation algorithm, to overcome
several issues constraining the analysis of the whole-brain fMRI data
in real time. The highly parallel, voxel-wise processing of fMRI data
motivated the use of a cluster of personal computers for parallel
computation. Aside from gaining a significant increase in computational
speed, PC clusters provide a versatile way to handle the computational
requirements of the system. The use of GLM in the supporting software
allows substantial parametric analysis to be performed.
|
 |
| Schematic diagram
of the real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging system
composing of an MR scanner, a data storage device, and a computational
server. |
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| Relational Information |
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AIST Today Vol. 3, No.
3 (2003) 13
|
No.8
Spring 2003
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