We are making available Open BirdcageBuilder, an open-source, web-based interface for calculating the fundamental design features of birdcage radio-frequency (RF) coils, common in MR imaging.
Birdcage RF coils are resonant circuits that operate with a specific current pattern at particular frequencies and are tuned by choosing the proper capacitor values.
Open BirdcageBuilder calculates mutual inductances and capacitors needed to make a coil resonate at a particular frequency, given the coil’s geometric properties such as the length and number of legs, cross-sectional shape of legs and end-rings, and the radii of the coil and shield.
The user-friendly, responsive interface runs in a web browser on any device with an internet connection.
Related Publication
BirdcageBuilder: Design of Specified-Geometry Birdcage Coils with Desired Current Pattern and Resonant Frequency.
Concepts Magn Reson. 2002 Jun;15(2):156-163. doi: 10.1002/cmr.10030
Please cite this work if you are using Open BirdcageBuilder in your research.
Open Source
We are sharing the source code for Open BirdcageBuilder via a Github repository at github.com/dbnyu/OpenBirdcageBuilder.
Contact
Questions about this resource may be directed to Douglas Brantner, MS.
Related Resource
An older version of BirdcageBuilder that runs locally on Android devices is also available.
A radio-frequency coil inductance and capacitor calculator for Android.