On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a sophisticated tool which yields rich information on the spatial, spectral and temporal signatures of human brain function. Despite unique potential, MEG is limited by a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which is caused by both the inherently small magnetic fields gene...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37932/ |
| _version_ | 1848795563662770176 |
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| author | Boto, Elena Bowtell, Richard W. Kruger, Peter Fromhold, T. Mark Morris, Peter G. Meyer, Sofie S. Barnes, Gareth R. Brookes, Matthew J. |
| author_facet | Boto, Elena Bowtell, Richard W. Kruger, Peter Fromhold, T. Mark Morris, Peter G. Meyer, Sofie S. Barnes, Gareth R. Brookes, Matthew J. |
| author_sort | Boto, Elena |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a sophisticated tool which yields rich information on the spatial, spectral and temporal signatures of human brain function. Despite unique potential, MEG is limited by a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which is caused by both the inherently small magnetic fields generated by the brain, and the scalp-to-sensor distance. The latter is limited in current systems due to a requirement for pickup coils to be cryogenically cooled. Recent work suggests that optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) might be a viable alternative to superconducting detectors for MEG measurement. They have the advantage that sensors can be brought to within ~4 mm of the scalp, thus offering increased sensitivity. Here, using simulations, we quantify the advantages of hypothetical OPM systems in terms of sensitivity, reconstruction accuracy and spatial resolution. Our results show that a multi-channel whole-head OPM system offers (on average) a fivefold improvement in sensitivity for an adult brain, as well as clear improvements in reconstruction accuracy and spatial resolution. However, we also show that such improvements depend critically on accurate forward models; indeed, the reconstruction accuracy of our simulated OPM system only outperformed that of a simulated superconducting system in cases where forward field error was less than 5%. Overall, our results imply that the realisation of a viable whole-head multi-channel OPM system could generate a step change in the utility of MEG as a means to assess brain electrophysiological activity in health and disease. However in practice, this will require both improved hardware and modelling algorithms. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37932 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:05Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-379322020-05-04T18:05:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37932/ On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study Boto, Elena Bowtell, Richard W. Kruger, Peter Fromhold, T. Mark Morris, Peter G. Meyer, Sofie S. Barnes, Gareth R. Brookes, Matthew J. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a sophisticated tool which yields rich information on the spatial, spectral and temporal signatures of human brain function. Despite unique potential, MEG is limited by a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which is caused by both the inherently small magnetic fields generated by the brain, and the scalp-to-sensor distance. The latter is limited in current systems due to a requirement for pickup coils to be cryogenically cooled. Recent work suggests that optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) might be a viable alternative to superconducting detectors for MEG measurement. They have the advantage that sensors can be brought to within ~4 mm of the scalp, thus offering increased sensitivity. Here, using simulations, we quantify the advantages of hypothetical OPM systems in terms of sensitivity, reconstruction accuracy and spatial resolution. Our results show that a multi-channel whole-head OPM system offers (on average) a fivefold improvement in sensitivity for an adult brain, as well as clear improvements in reconstruction accuracy and spatial resolution. However, we also show that such improvements depend critically on accurate forward models; indeed, the reconstruction accuracy of our simulated OPM system only outperformed that of a simulated superconducting system in cases where forward field error was less than 5%. Overall, our results imply that the realisation of a viable whole-head multi-channel OPM system could generate a step change in the utility of MEG as a means to assess brain electrophysiological activity in health and disease. However in practice, this will require both improved hardware and modelling algorithms. Public Library of Science 2016-08-26 Article PeerReviewed Boto, Elena, Bowtell, Richard W., Kruger, Peter, Fromhold, T. Mark, Morris, Peter G., Meyer, Sofie S., Barnes, Gareth R. and Brookes, Matthew J. (2016) On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study. PLoS ONE, 11 (8). e0157655/1- e0157655/24. ISSN 1932-6203 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0157655 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157655 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157655 |
| spellingShingle | Boto, Elena Bowtell, Richard W. Kruger, Peter Fromhold, T. Mark Morris, Peter G. Meyer, Sofie S. Barnes, Gareth R. Brookes, Matthew J. On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title | On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title_full | On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title_fullStr | On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title_short | On the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for MEG: a beamformer simulation study |
| title_sort | on the potential of a new generation of magnetometers for meg: a beamformer simulation study |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37932/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37932/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37932/ |