Frequently Asked Questions
   
1. What is PULSAR?
 

The PULSAR (Parallel Imaging Utilizing Localized Surface-coil Acquisition and Reconstruction) software is a (free) toolbox designed in MATLAB to bring various reconstruction techniques into one package in order to allow convenient simulations and tests.
2. Where can I get PULSAR?
 

A copy of the program can be downloaded (for free!) from our Downloads page.
3. What do I need to run PULSAR?
 

MATLAB 6.5 R13 (or later version) must be installed on your computer.

Programs have been tested in Windows XP but should run on other platforms in MATLAB 6.5 R13 or later versions
4. How do I install PULSAR?
 

After unzipping the pulsar.zip download, installation instructions may be found in the manuals.

5. Now that I have installed PULSAR, how do I begin?
 

There are several ways to run the software. The user may run the example program using inputs from the examples provided or by modifying the source code. This is the recommended mode.

There is also a graphical interface available in the beta version but the functionality is not fully tested. For details, please refer to the User Manuals.
6. Where do I report bugs?
 

Bugs may be reported to parallel.mri@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that PULSAR is open source and still in development.  We would greatly appreciate it if reports are made only after checking out the source code first.

   
7. What are some basic MATLAB commands I should know?
 

>> cd c:\pulsar\source\sense

>>edit recon.m

>> recon

A Matlab tutorial can be download from MathWorks
8. The command window gives me the following message when I try to open a file: ??? Undefined function or variable '-----'.
 

Check to make sure that the current directory in MATLAB is set to the directory where the file is located;
e.g.  'workdir\pulsar\source\common' where workdir is the directory into which pulsar.zip was unzipped. and 'workdir\pulsar\source\grappa' should be the current directory if you work on GRAPPA algorithm

Also PULSAR occasionally uses some functions from Optimization toolbox and Image Processing toolbox. You may have to install the toolbox in your Matlab or define your own functions to perform the same task.