A versatile pulse programmer for magnetic resonance imaging.

Hardware and software solutions for a versatile pulse programmer have been presented. The core of the pulse programmer is an FPGA device that provides flexibility to the design and reduces the number of electronics elements needed. The event of the pulse programmer consists of 16 bits. The main feature of the proposed pulse programmer is that the 16 outputs can be independently delayed. This is important for correcting delays of the RF channels or the gradient channels due to various causes. The proposed pulse programmer is integrated into an MRI scanner, and the correction of the gradient system delay is taken as an example to experimentally demonstrate its performance.