Steering of magnetic devices with a magnetic particle imaging system

The time-domain device localization scheme can be combined with focus-field based shifting of the imaging volume in order to stabilize and manipulate the device position. In the 1D steering experiment, localization and force exertion are interleaved. The device is initially localized on the right side (1) and steered to the center (2). Once arrived and localized at the desired position, the steering algorithm centers the imaging volume on the device position (3) in order to average out the forces. After the user defines a new target position, the device is steered to this point (4) and stabilized there (5). This experiment has been done in a viscous medium to reduce the device velocity explaining the long steering times. In another experiment not shown here, a steering sequence levitates the object in a viscous medium demonstrating that the method can create forces greater than gravitational force.