title: GPU accelerated FDTD solver and its application in MRI.
abstract: The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is a popular technique for computational electromagnetics (CEM). The large computational power often required, however, has been a limiting factor for its applications. In this paper, we will present a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based parallel FDTD solver and its successful application to the investigation of a novel B1 shimming scheme for high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The optimized shimming scheme exhibits considerably improved transmit B(1) profiles. The GPU implementation dramatically shortened the runtime of FDTD simulation of electromagnetic field compared with its CPU counterpart. The acceleration in runtime has made such investigation possible, and will pave the way for other studies of large-scale computational electromagnetic problems in modern MRI which were previously impractical.
authors.affiliation: School of Automation Engineering, Qingdao University, China. chijieru@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crozier
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003196:Computer Graphics; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*