A genetic algorithm approach to the design of split coil magnets for MRI

Innovative, open magnet designs for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of par ts of human body have been recently proposed. These open configurations req uire notable skill in the design phase to obtain satisfactory performance i n terms of compactness and field homogeneity; optimization techniques thus seems adequate to assist the designer of such devices. A novel optimization scheme, based on a genetic algorithm (GA) has been implemented for the res olution of this problem. The GA seems well suited for this applications tha nks to its ability in exploring the whole design parameters space, not bein g trapped by local minima, but some improvements have been implemented, nam ely floating point parameter representation, introduction of a directional mutation operator and adaptive probability of operators action.