Radio Frequency testing equipment and ensuring medical precision

 RF test systems helping medical diagnosis Radio frequency wavelength ranges allow it to have a whole host of different uses including in RF test systems used in medical applications. For example, magnetic resonance imaging devices utilize RF test systems to divide the body into two dimensional layers and through a grid system, test each part of the subdivision of the layer by exciting the section with energy and monitoring the response. Different tissues will contain different water content and as such the excited water will provide a different response signature to others. The known materials are referenced and a picture that can be analyzed by staff can be easily created. The great thing is that radio frequency excitation can be controlled and precise pictures created as a result. In some respects MRIs work very similar to your microwave as they are also exciting water molecules, however unlike a microwave the energy used is very small and created in an area through different emitters, reducing energy present in non-target areas.

 

 Many individuals worry about MRI RF burns and the system causing pain however as the RF wave changes quickly and is used at a low amplitude, pain receptors do not depolarize and thus do not cause pain. Internal RF burning is also only possible at much higher amplitudes than that emitted during MRI use. 

 

The results provided depend on the patient not moving as much as possible, multiple locations can be tested at the same time with multiple emitters to speed up the process and get a clearer picture. In either case high precision is of utmost importance and calibration needs to be conducted on each part of the RF test equipment. 

 

RF test systems can provide an excellent way for non-invasive diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Visual pictures that are created from the data are one of the best features of the technology along with clearly identifying tissue types present in the region of interest. To ensure that a clear image is produced RF test equipment must be calibrated to a known standard. This standard can vary depending on the wavelengths used. In most cases easily available standards such as distilled water can be used and for a given energy level used the response signal corrected for the standard. RF test equipment becomes more specialist with the wavelength used, this is due to the reduced wavelength needing more precision to identify responses.

 

 Ablative Medical Technology While MRI is non-destructive, radiofrequency ablation is possible for the treatment of tumors or other tissues that need to be removed. These devices use a frequency range of between 350 to 500 kHz and normally need an anesthetic used due to the heating nature of the device and polarization of pain receptors for non-current based treatments based on lower frequency AC or DC pulsed waves. The great thing however is that subdermal tissue can be treated through specific targeting by devices, meaning only the problematic tissue is treated. RF test equipment needed to calibrate these devices are fairly simple in nature, typically with a pad that probe that emits the waves to sit on. The wave response is assessed at different amplitudes and frequencies and internal electrical adjustments made automatically for some of the higher quality systems. If not available then manual settings are normally entered either through an ergonomic user interface or on the devices board though voltage regulation changes on the cheaper systems. 

 

Summary No matter what type of RF test equipment you use, whether it is for non-destructive or ablative medical uses it needs to be correctly calibrated. Failure to calibrate such devices makes them non-performant with imaging and results worsening over time.