(ADC) A system that receives analog input data and produces digital values at its output. Used by the MRI scanner to convert the received signal into a format more compatible with the computer systems.

MRI computer can be divided into central processing unit (CPU), consisting of instruction, interpretation and arithmetic unit plus fast access memory, and peripheral devices such as bulk data storage and input and output devices (including, via the interface, the spectrometer). The computer controls the RF pulses and gradients necessary to acquire data, and process the data to produce spectra or images. (Devices such as the spectrometer may themselves incorporate small computers.)

See also Digital to Analog Converter, Analog to Digital Converter, Transformer, Pulse Programmer, Array Processor, Detector.

See also the related poll result: 'Most outages of your scanning system are caused by failure of'

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is based on the magnetic resonance phenomenon, and is used for medical diagnostic imaging since ca. 1977 (see also MRI History).
The first developed MRI devices were constructed as long narrow tunnels. In the meantime the magnets became shorter and wider. In addition to this short bore magnet design, open MRI machines were created. MRI machines with open design have commonly either horizontal or vertical opposite installed magnets and obtain more space and air around the patient during the MRI test.
The basic hardware components of all MRI systems are the magnet, producing a stable and very intense magnetic field, the gradient coils, creating a variable field and radio frequency (RF) coils which are used to transmit energy and to encode spatial positioning. A computer controls the MRI scanning operation and processes the information.
The range of used field strengths for medical imaging is from 0.15 to 3 T. The open MRI magnets have usually field strength in the range 0.2 Tesla to 0.35 Tesla. The higher field MRI devices are commonly solenoid with short bore superconducting magnets, which provide homogeneous fields of high stability.
There are this different types of magnets:
The majority of superconductive magnets are based on niobium-titanium (NbTi) alloys, which are very reliable and require extremely uniform fields and extreme stability over time, but require a liquid helium cryogenic system to keep the conductors at approximately 4.2 Kelvin (-268.8° Celsius). To maintain this temperature the magnet is enclosed and cooled by a cryogen containing liquid helium (sometimes also nitrogen).
The gradient coils are required to produce a linear variation in field along one direction, and to have high efficiency, low inductance and low resistance, in order to minimize the current requirements and heat deposition. A Maxwell coil usually produces linear variation in field along the z-axis; in the other two axes it is best done using a saddle coil, such as the Golay coil.
The radio frequency coils used to excite the nuclei fall into two main categories; surface coils and volume coils. The essential element for spatial encoding, the gradient coil sub-system of the MRI scanner is responsible for the encoding of specialized contrast such as flow information, diffusion information, and modulation of magnetization for spatial tagging.
An analog to digital converter turns the nuclear magnetic resonance signal to a digital signal. The digital signal is then sent to an image processor for Fourier transformation and the image of the MRI scan is displayed on a monitor.

For Ultrasound Imaging (USI) see Ultrasound Machine at Medical-Ultrasound-Imaging.com.

See also the related poll results: 'In 2010 your scanner will probably work with a field strength of' and 'Most outages of your scanning system are caused by failure of'

Process of conversion of continuous (analog) signals, such as the detected MR signal (voltage), into numbers. This is carried out with an analog to digital converter. There are two kinds of discretization involved: the voltage is only measured (sampled) at particular discrete times, and only voltages within a particular range and separated by a particular minimum amount can be distinguished. Voltages beyond this range are said to exceed the dynamic range of the digitizer.

Quick Overview
Please note that there are different common names for this artifact.

Noise introduced into digitized signals by the finite voltage resolution of the digitizer.
You can see the effects of quantization if the noise level is smaller than the digitizer quantum. If the signal dynamic range is too great, the highest intensities from overloading the digitizer may result in the weaker features being lost in the digitization noise.

This can be resolved by using an analog to digital converter with a larger range of sensitivity or by using techniques to reduce the dynamic range, e.g. suppressing the signal from water in order to detect the signal from less abundant compounds.