Systems and methods for preparing a neuroimaging system for neuroimaging and analysis of a subject's brain tissue

An actuator configured to prepare a system for analysis of a subject's brain tissue, wherein the system comprises a plurality of optical elements, wherein each optical element comprises one of:

• (i) a light source for emitting light towards the subject's brain tissue, or (ii) a light detector for detecting scattered light from the subject's brain tissue, wherein:
• the actuator comprises a plurality of movers, wherein each mover is operable to rearrange one or more optical elements of said system;
• the actuator is arranged to couple to said system to position the movers proximal to, or in contact with, said optical elements of said system;
• and
• the actuator is configured to control operation of each of the movers to re-arrange said optical elements on the subject's scalp;
• wherein the actuator is configured to control operation of the one or more movers to perform an iterative optical element arrangement adjustment process for each of said optical elements arranged at respective selected locations on the subject's scalp;
• wherein, to perform said iterative optical element arrangement adjustment process for a light source and/or light detector of a source-detector pair on the patient's scalp, the actuator is configured to:
• (a) obtain a measurement signal indicative of a goodness of fit for said optical element as arranged on the subject's scalp by (i) controlling the light source of the pair to emit a reference light signal, and (ii) controlling the light detector of the pair to obtain a reference light detection signal, wherein the measurement signal is based on the reference light detection signal;
• (b) control operation of one or more of the movers to re-arrange said optical element at, or proximal to, its selected location on the subject's scalp;
• and
• (c) repeat steps (a) and (b) until the measurement signal is obtained which indicates a goodness of fit for said optical element which satisfies a threshold criterion.

A tangible non transitory computer readable storage medium storing program instructions configured, when executed by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

• performing an iterative optical element arrangement adjustment process comprising:
• obtaining a measurement signal indicative of a goodness of fit for a selected optical element of a source detector pair as arranged on a subject's scalp by:
• (i) controlling the light source of the source-detector pair at a first position on the subject's scalp to emit a reference light signal, and
• (ii) controlling the light detector of the source-detector pair at a second position on the subject's scalp to obtain a reference light detection signal, wherein the measurement signal is based on the reference light detection signal;
• wherein the source-detector pair is provided by two optical elements placed on the subject's scalp and a first one of said two optical elements comprises a light source for emitting light towards the subject's brain tissue and a second one of said two optical elements comprising a light detector for detecting scattered light from the subject's brain tissue,
• and
• determining, based on the measurement signal, whether to cause the selected optical element to be rearranged at, or proximal to, the selected location on the subject's scalp;
• and, once the selected optical element has been rearranged, repeating the steps of obtaining the measurement signal and determining, based on the measurement signal, whether to cause the selected optical element to be rearranged until the measurement signal indicates a goodness of fit for said optical element which satisfies a threshold criterion.