Intelligent MRI Room Design Using Visible Light Communication with Range Augmentation

Radio waves and strong magnetic fields are used by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners to detect tumours, wounds and visualize detailed images of the human body. Wi-Fi and other medical devices placed in the MRI procedure room produces RF noise in MRI Images. The RF noise is the result of electromagnetic emissions produced by Wi-Fi and other medical devices that interfere with the operation of the MRI scanner. Existing techniques for RF noise mitigation involve RF shielding techniques which induce eddy currents that affect the MRI image quality. RF shielding techniques are complex and lead to RF leakage. VLC (Visible light Communication) is an emerging and efficient technology to avoid RF interference near MRI scanners. Range augmentation with power conservation of the LED is a big challenge in existing VLC systems. The major objective of the proposed work is to develop an intelligent-MRI room design without RF interference using visible light communication and enhance the distance between VLC transmitter and VLC receiver. In this paper, it is proposed to implement VLC using On-Off keying modulation and enhance distance using large active area photodiodes with Automatic Gain Control Circuit (AGC) using software and hardware. The performance of the proposed intelligent MRI-VLC system is analyzed by calculating Bit Error Rate at an inclined distance of 50 cm away from line of sight of the LED. The Experimental results showed that the maximum distance achieved was 400 cm at Bit Error Rate (BER) of 1.5 x 10(-)(5).