Important
CoilGen2 is the new, substantially improved successor to CoilGen and the recommended starting point for all new coil-design projects.
Future development takes place in CoilGen2. The original MATLAB version in this repository is no longer maintained and remains available for reference and reproduction of earlier work.
CoilGen2 builds on the original CoilGen method and substantially expands the tools available for designing, analyzing, and refining coil winding patterns.
- Python API and desktop workbench: Work through a class-based scripting interface or a native graphical application with interactive 3D visualization, editable projects, and design templates.
- Expanded optimization capabilities: Explore power, magnetic-energy, and current-density objectives with constrained field optimization and additional engineering constraints.
- Flexible geometry and target fields: Use generated support surfaces, imported STL meshes, analytical target fields, or imported field maps.
- Intrinsic mesh topology: Process contour topology directly on the triangular support surface without requiring a global surface flattening.
- Richer engineering analysis: Evaluate field errors, current requirements, resistance and inductance estimates, routing, and conductor geometry.
- Manufacturing-oriented outputs: Generate swept conductor geometries, STL exports, and cylindrical PCB artwork, with accompanying geometry and clearance diagnostics.
For new gradient, shim, and magnetostatic coil-design projects, start with CoilGen2.
CoilGen2 repository · Installation · Getting started · Desktop workbench · Examples
CoilGen is an open-source tool for generating coil winding patterns for MRI/NMR and magnetostatic field shaping.
Starting from a target magnetic field and a triangular support-surface mesh, CoilGen uses a boundary-element stream-function method to optimize a surface-current distribution and convert its contours into interconnected wire paths.
For example, a target of Bz(x,y,z) = G·y, where G is the desired gradient strength, defines a linear variation of the longitudinal magnetic field along the y direction. The support surface can be supplied as an STL mesh.
The original method and postprocessing workflow are described in the CoilGen publication.
This version remains available for existing workflows and reproduction of published results.
- Download or clone this repository.
- Open it in MATLAB R2020a or newer.
- Run an example from the
Examplesfolder. - Adapt the target field, support geometry, and design parameters as needed.
FastHenry2 is optional for the legacy inductance calculation. See the Documentation folder for the original documentation.
When reproducing earlier results, retain the exact code revision, MATLAB version, input geometry, and parameter settings. CoilGen2 has its own implementation and should not be assumed to reproduce legacy results identically.
Legacy plotting correction: A field-scale correction was made in plot_various_error_metrics. Use a revision containing that fix when evaluating legacy plots.
The original author also supported pyCoilGen, a separate Python translation of the original MATLAB CoilGen project.
CoilGen2 is the successor developed and maintained by Philipp Amrein and the focus of future CoilGen development.
When using CoilGen, please cite:
Amrein P, Jia F, Zaitsev M, Littin S. CoilGen: Open-source MR coil layout generator. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2022;88(3):1465–1479. doi:10.1002/mrm.29294
When using CoilGen2, also record the software version or commit used to support reproducibility.
See LICENSE.txt for the license of this repository.
Philipp Amrein · GitHub
Continue with CoilGen2 — the next generation of CoilGen.