Multi-band EPI

The CMRR software downloads have migrated to a new site!

If you have not visited this page since Dec 26, 2025, you will need to reset your password. Your username is the email address that you used to sign the MTA license agreement.

Please be aware that while Siemens C2P agreements are for the specific scanner+institution, the MTA agreement to download sequences on this site are for an individual. If your institution needs to change or add additional authorized people to download sequences, each person will need to sign the MTA agreement and then CMRR will create an account on this site.

Multi-banded RF pulses can be used to accelerate volume coverage along the slice direction by simultaneously exciting and acquiring multiple slices and subsequently unaliasing them using parallel imaging principles and the spatial information available in multi-channel RF array coils.

This allows for a direct reduction in the volume TR by the number of simultaneously excited slices (i.e., the multiband (MB) factor or the slice acceleration factor).

Example

Multi-banded RF pulses can be used to accelerate volume coverage along the slice direction by simultaneously exciting and acquiring multiple slices and subsequently unaliasing them using parallel imaging principles and the spatial information available in multi-channel RF array coils.

This allows for a direct reduction in the volume TR by the number of simultaneously excited slices (i.e., the multiband (MB) factor or the slice acceleration factor).

MR image of a head with blue circles showing simultaneous acquisition
Simultaneous acquisition

License

Obtaining a license

The available supported software versions are listed below. If you are interested in obtaining these sequences, please follow this process to obtain a CMRR license:

  1. Obtain authorization from your Siemens Regional Collaboration Manager for the specific software you would like to license. 
    1. Contact your Siemens Regional Collaboration Manager for authorization. Please ask them to use the following text in the agreement: "developed by Dr. Essa Yacoub and colleagues (“DEVELOPER”), employees of the University of Minnesota." If you are experiencing any delays working with your Siemens Regional Collaboration Manager please contact Colin Giambrone (colin.giambrone@siemens-healthineers.com). 
    2. Send the completed authorization form to Essa Yacoub
  2. Select the license from the OTC website and complete the license agreement.
  3. CMRR will send you your account information and instructions for downloading the software.

Please note that the entire licensing process may take up to two weeks to process.

Once you have executed a C2P agreement and have been given an access password, the sequence binaries can be downloaded here by selecting the desired release number.

Note: The C2P agreement in step 1 applies to the institution (scanner), whereas the MTA agreement in step 2 applies to an individual. If someone else at your institution has historically been the download contact for sequences and you would also like download access, please sign the MTA agreement and CMRR will create a download account for you.

Citation

If you publish or present results obtained using the software or sequences in this package, please acknowledge the researchers who developed the sequences using the following language:

Moeller S, et al. Multiband multislice GE-EPI at 7 tesla, with 16-fold acceleration using partial parallel imaging with application to high spatial and temporal whole-brain fMRI. Magn Reson Med. 2010; 63:1144-53. doi: 10.1002/mrm.22361

Contact

If you have noticed a bug or have a request for a new feature in a future release, please contact

If you have noticed a bug or have a request for a new feature in a future release, please open a new support request. Be sure to include the sequence version number (e.g. VB17A R006a), sequence variant (e.g. BOLD, diffusion), and the model of scanner you are using in the problem description.

Download Multi-Band EPI 2D BOLD/SE/DIFF Sequences

Multi-Band EPI 2D BOLD/SE/DIFF Sequences - Version R017 Prerelease Versions

Released Sept. 23, 2025 ; expiration Feb. 10, 2026

Prerelease versions of R017 are available for testing.

If you wish to test these versions, please read and contribute to the R017 Prerelease discussion thread on the CMRR-C2P/MB GitHub page.

Note that R017 and R016 can not be installed or used simultaneously. If you install R017, it will replace R016, and vice versa. The license file for both versions is the same.

Multi-Band EPI 2D BOLD/SE/DIFF Sequences - Version Release R016a

Released Dec. 19, 2017 ; expiration Feb. 10, 2026

The current license for R016a will expire on 10 February 2026.

To extend the license expiration of a working installation (i.e., avoiding the need to completely reinstall the sequences from the zip archives below), please download and copy the updated license file to the customer sequence directory on your scanner, replacing the existing .lic file. 

Download Multi-Band EPI Remote Reconstruction Server

Multi-Band EPI Remote Reconstruction Server - Version R008a

Released March 29, 2018

Updated 10 GbE adapter drivers and added Step5 MRIR support for VB17A/VB19A.

Multi-Band EPI Remote Reconstruction Server - Version R008

Released Aug. 3, 2016

Updated to support sequence versions R014 and newer.


References

  1. Moeller S, et al. Multiband multislice GE-EPI at 7 tesla, with 16-fold acceleration using partial parallel imaging with application to high spatial and temporal whole-brain fMRI. Magn Reson Med. 2010; 63:1144-53. doi: 10.1002/mrm.22361

  2. Xu J, et al. Evaluation of slice accelerations using multiband echo planar imaging at 3 T. Neuroimage. 2013; 83:991-1001. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.055

  3. Setsompop K, et al. Blipped-controlled aliasing in parallel imaging for simultaneous multislice echo planar imaging with reduced g-factor penalty. Magn Reson Med. 2012; 67:1210-24. doi: 10.1002/mrm.23097

  4. Auerbach EJ, et al. Multiband accelerated spin-echo echo planar imaging with reduced peak RF power using time-shifted RF pulses. Magn Reson Med. 2013; 69:1261-7. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24719

  5. Sotiropoulos SN, et al. Effects of image reconstruction on fiber orientation mapping from multichannel diffusion MRI: reducing the noise floor using SENSE. Magn Reson Med. 2013; 70:1682-9. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24623

  6. Cauley SF, et al. Interslice leakage artifact reduction technique for simultaneous multislice acquisitions. Magn Reson Med. 2014; 72:93-102. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24898

  7. Setsompop K, et al. Improving diffusion MRI using simultaneous multi-slice echo planar imaging. Neuroimage. 2012; 63:569-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.033

  8. Polimeni JR, et al. Reducing sensitivity losses due to respiration and motion in accelerated echo planar imaging by reordering the autocalibration data acquisition. Magn Reson Med. 2016; 75:665-79. doi: 10.1002/mrm.25628

  9. Feinberg DA, et al. Multiplexed echo planar imaging for sub-second whole brain FMRI and fast diffusion imaging. PLoS One. 2010; 5:e15710. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015710

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