A new digital-to-analog converter (DAC) promises to provide
better image quality for magnetic resonance imagers (MRIs), enabling radiologists
to detect illnesses earlier.
Engineers
at Analog Devices Inc., maker of the new
DAC, believe its combination of high accuracy and low-noise performance could
help reduce the number of "artifacts" in images and thereby lessen the need for
multiple MRI scans for patients. ADI says the device could have a profound
effect on MRI procedures, which are now done approximately 60 million times per
year worldwide.
"Radiologists
are looking for clearer images to diagnose illnesses at an earlier stage," says
Brendan Cronin, product marketing manager for precision data converters at ADI.
"This product enables clearer and faster scans to be performed, which leads to
better diagnostic outcomes."
Known as
the
AD5791
DAC, the device reportedly offers 1-ppm performance, with four times better
accuracy, four times more resolution and 30 percent less noise than existing
DACs.
"Very
often, there's a tradeoff between accuracy, resolution and noise," Cronin says.
"You use bigger resistors to get better accuracy, but that leads to higher
noise. This product balances both and achieves very low noise levels with
higher resolution and better accuracy."
ADI
engineers say the AD5791 incorporates approximately 10 discrete components -
including amplifiers, field effect transistors (FETs), resistors and other
converters - into a single form factor measuring 4.4 x 6.5 mm. The company
claims that the device could help reduce an MRI's electronic package size and
cut time from the design process.
"Previously,
the smart MRI engineers could make low-ppm systems, but they would have done it
with a heap of discrete components, including as many as 10 or 15 converters,"
Cronin says. "This eliminates the headache of using all those discrete
components by providing a single-chip solution."
ADI says the
AD5791's combination of accuracy and low noise also make it a candidate for
test and measurement systems, high-end aerospace instrumentation, communication
equipment and industrial control systems.
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