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plenum. These feed-throughs will provide the electrical contracts to the SQUID and sensor
arrays, together with the cooling necessary to maintain these arrays in their superconductive state.
A fifty-channel prototype of this design at a packing level equal to the super-MEG design, shall be
developed during the first phase of this effort to reduce the technical and business risks during the
full-scale, second phase construction. We anticipate that these risk reduction experiments,
together with the overall integrated design development, will be performed within Sandia.
The closed-cycle refrigerator which will maintain the integrated plenum and SQUID/sensor arrays
at or below 5 Kelvins will be located away from the immediate clinical environment The
refrigeration cold head will be located about four meters from the super-MEG array, possibly in
the pipe chase adjacent to the MEG room. An evacuated and super-insulated flexible hose shall
connect the refrigeration cold head to the clinical MEG assembly. The refrigeration cold head will
have a total mass of about 15 kg.
It shall be supported by a 100 kg helium compressor which may
be located an arbitrary distance from the cold head, say in a utility shed. Concepts similar to this
design have been successfully proven in other superconductive device applications within Sandia,
and as such no first phase risk reduction studied need be undertaken.
The optimal design for the refrigeration cold head is evolving rapidly at this time. For this reason
we shall evaluate numerous competitive designs during the first phase to optimize the final
cryogenic system's reliability and efficiency. Manufacturers of these new and vastly improved
closed-cycle 5K refrigerators within the USA include Boreas, RMC, Tristan, CryoMech, and
possibly others. Since the superconductive electronics dissipate little to no heat while they
operate, this super-MEG design requires only a modest amount of cooling power to maintain a
temperature below 5K. Hence the closed-cycle refrigeration development aspects involve only a
reliability study and little to no additional engineering development
Figure 2. Proposed Project Organization
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[n Phase II, we will design and fabricate a full-scale MEG array system, capable of localizing and
measuring electrical signals over the whole brain with the maximum precision allowed by the laws
of physics.
It will contain on the order of 1000 SQUID sensors, in an array spanning the entire
scalp. The computational models, understanding of brain activity, and sensor technology
developed in Phase I will serve as the basis for the design. Once completed, the system will be
installed at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque to serve as a national resource for research
into brain function and brain disorders.
The fifty-channel prototype sensor built under Phase I will be installed at the VA at the start of
Phase II. Collection of brain data will continue throughout this phase. The fine spatial resolution
in this system will make it possible to extract more detailed and accurate signal profiles than those
found in Phase I. A library of profiles will be incorporated into the computational model as part
of the initial operational capability for the full-scale system.
The computational model and mapping algorithms will be revised based on the experience of
Phase I. We will acquire a parallel supercomputer, of the highest performance commercially
available, to ran the codes. The software configuration will make use of the parallel computer's
ability to allocate processing power dynamically as the task load changes. The forward model will
be made more detailed (size increased from 24,000 elements to approximately
1 million) to
achieve the necessary model quality at high spatial resolution. The inverse model will be revised
and recorded as necessary to accommodate the large number of sensor channels.
All the codes
will be integrated to create a system capable of computing MEG scan results in a timely manner
(one hour from start of auxiliary scan to finished output).
The hardware design of the full-scale sensor will be finalized early in Phase D, with the rest of the
time devoted to fabrication, assembly and integration.
Fabrication of microelectronic components
will be done at Sandia's Microelectronics Development Facility, at contractors facilities, or some
combination. The cryogenic subsystem will be built at Sandia, and assembly and integration will
be done there.
VI. Proposed Costs and Schedule
This section gives the proposed costs and schedules. The effort would be managed by Sandia
National Laboratories with the Veteran Administration MEG Laboratory being a core laboratory
along with Sandia.
Sandia will develop contracts with the University of New Mexico to work in
image analysis and to advise on some aspects of neurological sciences, Los Alamos National
Laboratory for basic sensor research, the University of Houston for computational
electromagnetics, the University of Arizona to consider machine interfaces for surgical
procedures, and other industrial entities for both sensor and computational electromagnetics
research.
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The proposed funding profile is as follows:
A.
Phase
I
1 . Core Laboratories
a.
Sandia National Laboratories
1) Supercomputer Upgrade
2M
2) Inital EM Brain Model Developement 3M
3) Initial Sensor Array
b. Veterans Administration
4.5M
9.5M
1) MEG Acquistion and Installation
3M
2) Research
0.7M
3) MRI Time
HIM
3.8M
2.
Universities
a. UNM (EECE Dept.)
300K
b.
University of Arizona (Neurology Dept.) 500K
c.
University of Houston (EECE Dept.)
IHOK
900K
3.
Others
a.
Ochsner's Clinic
b. Los Alamos National Laboratory
200K
(Device Research)
500K
c. McDonnell-Douglas (CEM Consultant)
400K
d. IBM (SQUID Research)
500K
e. TRW (SQUID Research)
500K
f.
Other consultants
300K
2.4M
Total Phase I - 16.6M
B.
Phase II
1. Core Laboratories
a.
Sandia National Laboratories
1) Supercomputer and Workstation Acq. 8M
2) Final EM Brain Model Development
6M
3) Final Sensor Array
14M (includes subcontracts)
28M
b. Veterans Administration (Research)
2M
2.
Universities
a. UNM (EECE Dept.)
600K
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b.
University of Arizona (Neurology Dept.)
c.
University of Houston (EECE Dept.)
3.
Others
a. Ochsner's Clinic
b. Los Alamos National Laboratory
(Device Research)
c. McDonnell-Douglas (CEM Consultant)
d. Other consultants
Total Phase II - 35.4M
Total 3 year program cost $52M
1.5M
200K
2.3M
400
K
1M
600K
1.1M
3.1M
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Appendix: Domestic and Foreign Capabilities
A. Existing U. S. Capability-Manufacturers
BTi, San Diego, CA
Founded in 1970 as S.H.E. Corporation, BTi introduced the first commercial SQUID sensor and
electronics. In 1980 they introduced the first commercial dc SQUID system, BTi is considered the
world leader in commercial SQUID systems, supplying SQUID sensors, electronics and dewars
for laboratory use along with geophysical magnetometers and biomedical gradiometers. BTi’s
most complex SQUID system is a 37-channel gradiometer array for biomagnetism that includes 8
additional SQUID channels for electronic noise cancellation ($2,200,000) with a system noise
10 fT/. BTi has also delivered single channel dc SQUID biomagnetometers operated by a closed
cycle refrigeration system (hybrid Gifford-McMahon/Joule-Thompson) with a system noise 20
fT/. Although BTi has a DARPA/ONR contract to do research on and fabricate high Tc SQUIDs,
BTi’s current thrust is purely biomedical. In July 1989, BTi went public, with a market valuation
of ~ $50,000,000. In January 1990 Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. of Tokyo became BTi’s
Asian distributor. As part of that arrangement Sumitomo purchased 12.9% of BTi, along with
two 37-channel biomagnetometers to be placed at development sites in Japan. BTi currently
employs 135 people of which half are involved in the development of SQUID devices. BTi
operates a subsidiary in Aachen, W. Germany (S.H.E. GmbH) to handle European sales and
service. Sales for 1989 were $8,100,000, with a projected growth of 30% annually.
Quantum Design, San Diego, CA
Privately held, QD was founded in 1982 by four former S.H.E. employees supplying SQUID
electronics and systems. Their major product is a SQUID susceptometer, accounting for more
than 80% of their sales. QD has developed 200 MHz rf SQUID electronics that achieve
35 mF()/ (using BTi rf SQUID sensors). They also manufacture BTi style 20 MHz electronics
with a noise level of 100 mF()/. A subsidiary. Quantum Magnetics, is the R&D arm of QD being
primarily concerned with new product development and custom systems. QD currently buys rf
SQUID sensors from BTi, but now has capability to produce dc (and rf) SQUIDs of their own
design. One interesting feature of their design is the ability to desensitize the SQUID sensor by
factors of 100 or more (e.g., to 10’26 Joules/Hz). Custom systems supplied by QD include a
SQUID magnetometer with 3 m spatial resolution, systems for detection of corrosion currents and
a 6-element airborne gradiometer system. QD is the subcontractor to IBM on NCSC, Panama
City 8-element array refurbishment. As part of this project, they have developed compact dc
SQUID electronics that operate at the 5 mF()/ level (using BTi dc SQUID sensors).
Current research activity (SBIR funded, pointing towards commercial exploitation) include
development of magnetometers for corrosion measurements (NDE) and SQUID NMR for
explosives/drug detection. Estimated revenues for 1989 were $10,000,000. These revenues are
not expected to increase because of market saturation of their principle product, the model
MPMS SQUID susceptometer. QD currently employs 80 people. European sales are handled
through S.H.E. GmbH.
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