Democratization of Real-time Multi-Spectral Photoacoustic Imaging: Open-Sourced System Architecture for OPOTEK Phocus & Verasonics Vantage Combination
2026-04-16 • Hardware Architecture
Hardware Architecture
AI summaryⓘ
The authors address issues in real-time multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging (RT-mPAI), which can experience timing problems due to using fast lasers with regular computers. They created an open-source system using extra hardware and software that keeps laser triggers precise and avoids delays caused by operating systems and data storage. By sharing their design and code openly, the authors hope to make this imaging technology easier and cheaper for researchers to use and encourage community collaboration.
photoacoustic imagingmulti-spectral imagingreal-time systemslaser synchronizationmicro-controllerdata acquisitionopen-source hardwareclient-server architectureoperating system timingVerasonics Vantage
Authors
Ryo Murakami, Yichuan Tang, Haichong K. Zhang
Abstract
Real-time multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging (RT-mPAI) often suffers from synchronization instabilities when interfacing fast-tuning lasers with data acquisition platforms executing on non-real-time operating systems. To overcome this, we establish an open-source hardware-software architecture tailored for the widely adopted combination of the OPOTEK Phocus lasers and Verasonics Vantage systems. By employing an independent micro-controller for deterministic laser trigger counting alongside a decoupled client-server data streaming framework, the proposed system circumvents OS-induced timing deviations and local storage bottlenecks. By open-sourcing this pipeline and cultivating a collaborative environment to share both code and ideas, we aim to lower the technical and cost barriers for RT-mPAI, thereby democratizing access to stable RT-mPAI research and, more ambitiously, fostering a vibrant open-source community.