dStream
Philips' digital receive architecture for MRI. Analog-to-digital conversion moves from the scanner console out to the coil itself — the received RF signal digitizes at the coil and travels to the reconstruction system digitally rather than analog. Reduces signal-path noise and enables longer-reach coil cabling without SNR penalty. Introduced on the Ingenia family and carried forward to Ingenia Elition and the current MR 5300 / 7700 generation.
Why it matters to buyers: dStream is the architectural feature that differentiates Ingenia and later Philips MRI from predecessor Achieva-class platforms. Coil performance and MRI image quality depend on the signal-path architecture; dStream's digitization-at-the-coil is a measurable SNR improvement.
Why it matters to engineers: dStream coils carry different service / part-number catalogs than legacy analog Philips coils. Coil-cabling diagnostics work differently on digital-RF coils; the troubleshooting workflow for an "MRI appears to have lost a coil element" scenario differs between dStream and analog architectures.