Siemens MAGNETOM Aera 1.5T
Manufacturer: Siemens Healthineers · Modality: MRI
Current-generation Siemens 1.5 T MRI flagship. 70 cm wide-bore (vs 60 cm on Symphony / Avanto), Tim 4G coil platform, BioMatrix patient-adaptive tech. Shipped from 2010 and still in OEM production.
What's new vs Avanto and Symphony
- 70 cm wide bore — bariatric-capable, claustrophobic-patient-friendly, shoulder imaging in comfortable position
- Tim 4G coil platform — next generation after TIM on Symphony / Avanto. Higher channel counts + DirectRF architecture
- BioMatrix sensors — patient-adaptive respiratory + tune-to-patient features
- syngo MR XA host software (current)
Specs
- 1.5 Tesla · 70 cm bore
- 33 / 45 mT/m gradient options (effective)
- 125 / 200 T/m/s slew
- Tim 4G (up to 204 coil elements, 64-channel receive)
- DirectRF — ADC moved closer to the coil for lower noise
- Dot (Day optimizing throughput) workflows
Service reality
Still OEM-supported. Service contracts dominate. Cryogen + cold-head PM discipline same as Symphony / Avanto. Aera + Avanto + Skyra share a lot of Tim-era coil compatibility — coils often cross-compatible between these platforms.
Relationship to Symphony
Descendant. Aera is what a buyer looking for a new 1.5 T MRI typically considers; a refurb buyer going one tier cheaper lands on Avanto; two tiers cheaper on Symphony. Same manufacturer DNA, three distinct refurb-market positions.
Successor-class
MAGNETOM Sola is the BioMatrix-generation successor to Aera on the same 70 cm wide-bore chassis. Aera remains in active OEM production alongside Sola; Sola adds BioMatrix sensors + tuners, Deep Resolve reconstruction, and the current syngo MR XA host.