An Area-Optimized Chip of Ant Colony Algorithm Design in Hardware Platform Using the Address-Based Method

The ant colony algorithm is a nature-inspired algorithm highly used for solving many complex problems and finding optimal solutions; however, the algorithm has a major flaw and that is the vast amount of calculations and if the proper correction algorithm and architectural design are not provided, it will lead to the increasing use of hardware platform due to the high volume of operations; and perhaps at higher scales, it causes the chip area not to work because of the high number of problems; hence, the purpose of this paper is to save the hardware platform as far as possible and use it optimally through providing a particular algorithm running on a reconfigurable chip driven by the address-based method, so that the comparison of synthesis operations with the similar works shows significant improvements as much as 1/3 times greater than the other similar hardware methods.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i6.692

MRI-compatible needle guidance toolkit to streamline arthrography procedures: Phantom accuracy study

© 2020 SPIE. In this paper we introduce a novel and enabling MRI-compatible needle guidance toolkit intended to streamline arthrography procedures, eliminating the need for ionizing radiation exposure during this diagnostic procedure. We developed a flexible 2D grid template with unique patterns in which each point on the grid can be uniquely represented and denoted with respect to surrounding patterns. This MRI-visible non-repeating grid template sits on top of the patient\u27s skin in the region of interest and allows the radiologist to visualize the skin surface in the MR images and correlates each point in MR image with the corresponding point on the grid. In this manner, the radiologist can intuitively find the entry point on the skin according to their plan. An MRI-compatible handheld positioning device consisting of a needle guide, two baseline bubble inclinometers, and an MRI-compatible stabilizer arm allows the radiologist to adjust the orientation of the needle in two directions. The radiologist selects an entry point on MR images, identifies a grid location through which the needle would be projected to pass on the image, and then reproduces this needle position and angulation using the MRI-compatible handheld device and the physical grid. To evaluate the accuracy of needle targeting with the MRI-compatible needle guidance toolkit, we used the kit to target 10 locations in a phantom in a Philips Achieva 1.5T MRI. The average targeting error was 2.2±0.7 mm. Average targeting procedure time was around 20 minutes for each target

Shoulder-Mounted Robot for MRI-guided arthrography: Accuracy and mounting study

© 2015 IEEE. A new version of our compact and lightweight patient-mounted MRI-compatible 4 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot for MRI-guided arthrography procedures is introduced. This robot could convert the traditional two-stage arthrography procedure (fluoroscopy-guided needle insertion followed by a diagnostic MRI scan) to a one-stage procedure, all in the MRI suite. The results of a recent accuracy study are reported. A new mounting technique is proposed and the mounting stability is investigated using optical and electromagnetic tracking on an anthropomorphic phantom. Five volunteer subjects including 2 radiologists were asked to conduct needle insertion in 4 different random positions and orientations within the robot\u27s workspace and the displacement of the base of the robot was investigated during robot motion and needle insertion. Experimental results show that the proposed mounting method is stable and promising for clinical application

A prototype body-mounted MRI-compatible robot for needle guidance in shoulder arthrography

A novel compact and lightweight patient-mounted MRI-compatible robot has been designed for MRI imageguided interventions. This robot is intended to enable MRIguided needle placement as done in shoulder arthrography. The robot could make needle placement more accurate and simplify the current workflow by converting the traditional two-stage arthrography procedure (fluoroscopy-guided needle insertion followed by a diagnostic MRI scan) to a one-stage procedure (streamlined workflow all in MRI suite). The robot has 4 degrees of freedom (DOF), two for orientation of the needle and two for needle positioning. The mechanical design was based on several criteria including rigidity, MRI compatibility, compact design, sterilizability, and adjustability. The proposed workflow is discussed and initial MRI compatibility experiments are presented. The results show that artifacts in the region of interest are minimal and that MRI images of the shoulder were not adversely affected by placing the robot on a human volunteer

A prototype body-mounted MRI-compatible robot for needle guidance in shoulder arthrography

A novel compact and lightweight patient-mounted MRI-compatible robot has been designed for MRI imageguided interventions. This robot is intended to enable MRIguided needle placement as done in shoulder arthrography. The robot could make needle placement more accurate and simplify the current workflow by converting the traditional two-stage arthrography procedure (fluoroscopy-guided needle insertion followed by a diagnostic MRI scan) to a one-stage procedure (streamlined workflow all in MRI suite). The robot has 4 degrees of freedom (DOF), two for orientation of the needle and two for needle positioning. The mechanical design was based on several criteria including rigidity, MRI compatibility, compact design, sterilizability, and adjustability. The proposed workflow is discussed and initial MRI compatibility experiments are presented. The results show that artifacts in the region of interest are minimal and that MRI images of the shoulder were not adversely affected by placing the robot on a human volunteer

An integrated MR imaging coil and body-mounted robot for MR-guided pediatric arthrography: SNR and phantom study

© 2019 SPIE. In this paper we report development of an integrated RF coil for our body-mounted arthrography robot called Arthrobot. Arthrography is the evaluation of joint conditions using imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Current arthrography practice requires two separate stages; an intra-articular contrast injection guided by fluoroscopy or ultrasound followed by MR imaging. Our body-mounted robot is intended to enable needle placement in the MRI environment, streamlining the procedure. To improve imaging with our robot, a single loop coil was created and embedded into the mounting adaptor of the robot. This coil provides enough spatial coverage and sensitivity to localize anatomical points of interest and registration fiducials on the robot frame. In this paper we report the results of a SNR and heating study using our custom-made RF coil in four different scenarios using T1 and T2 weighted MR images: 1) no robot present, 2) robot off, 3) robot powered on, and 4) robot running. We also report an end-to-end robotic-assisted targeting study in a Philips MRI scanner suite using Arthrobot and our custommade RF coil for image acquisition. The SNR results and targeting results were promising. SNR dropped 32% for T1 weighted images compared to baseline (no robot present) images. For T2 weighted images the SNR drop was 42%. The average targeting error was 2.91 mm with a standard deviation (SD) of 1.82 mm. In future work we plan to replace the passive fiducials embedded in the base of Arthrobot with active fiducials that are tracked by the MRI system. These active fiducials will enable real-time tracking of the robot base and could allow breathing motion compensation during robotic procedures