Magnetic resonance imaging

Signal processing lies at the core of MRI. Data acquisition and manipulation occur naturally in the spatial Fourier transform domain of the image. A review of the imaging process and the associated image characteristics reveals the many opportunities for contributions from the signal processing community. This article develops the Fourier representation of the imaging process from an overview of the physics of the MRI signal. This article also discusses tradeoffs in acquisition time, resolution, and field of view as well as image degradation associated with noise and motion artifacts. In addition, the ability to manipulate soft tissue contrast over a wide range of independent parameters in MRI is outlined