Final Design

The MRI Visor is an entertainment headset that is designed to be worn in an MRI machine, making the scanning process more tolerable for patients. As such, the limitations of the MRI environment apply, and all components used in the device are non-ferromagnetic. Additionally, the entire housing as well as select components that may impact the MRI scan, such as the lenses, are shielded with copper mesh to prevent any interference. 

The Fatshark Dominator is a headset for a first-person view of drones that will be used as a template for the head-mounted display and retrofitted for the MRI environment. Our sponsors obtained permission from the Fatshark developers to use a discontinued model of their FPV drone headset as well as their manufacturers. The Fatshark Dominator was chosen because it is a head-mounted display that achieves the basic capability of delivering media to the viewer without the motion-tracking features of a VR headset. Furthermore, the Fatshark template gives us an existing model that has already gone through a product development process and is therefore designed for user experience, rough handling, and other such considerations of product design.

The particular Fatshark model we have chosen, the Dominator 2.1, utilizes the optical assembly of another display headset called the ProMED. The ProMED is a discontinued entertainment headset for dental patients featuring a similar compact optics system. The purpose of the optics system is to focus the image onto the retina and handle adjustments to accommodate the wearer, such as interpupillary distance, the distance between the retinas, and focal distance. 

The eMagin MRI safe analog display is the critical component that makes the visor compatible with MRI. The ProMED optical system will be modified to accommodate this display, rather than the LCOS display that it was intended for. Each display receives the video signal from an interposer, which has a connection that leaves the housing and connects to the computer streaming media. The eye padding is securely connected to the housing to prevent any discomfort or irritation around the eyes. The EMI shielding is made of copper mesh, which coats the entire housing as well as internal components to prevent any interference with the MRI scan.