Real-time multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging (RT-mPAI) often suffers from synchronization instabilities when interfacing fast-tuning lasers with data acquisition platforms executing on non-real-time operating systems. To overcome this, we establish an open-source hardware-software architecture tailored for the widely adopted combination of the OPOTEK Phocus lasers and Verasonics Vantage systems. By employing an independent micro-controller for deterministic laser trigger counting alongside a decoupled client-server data streaming framework, the proposed system circumvents OS-induced timing deviations and local storage bottlenecks. By open-sourcing this pipeline and cultivating a collaborative environment to share both code and ideas, we aim to lower the technical and cost barriers for RT-mPAI, thereby democratizing access to stable RT-mPAI research and, more ambitiously, fostering a vibrant open-source community.

翻译：实时多光谱光声成像（RT-mPAI）在将快速调谐激光器与运行于非实时操作系统上的数据采集平台对接时，常因同步不稳定而受限。为克服这一难题，我们针对广泛采用的OPOTEK Phocus激光器与Verasonics Vantage系统组合，建立了一套开源硬件-软件架构。通过采用独立微控制器进行确定性激光触发计数，并搭配解耦的客户端-服务器数据流框架，本系统规避了操作系统引发的时序偏差与本地存储瓶颈。通过开源此流水线并培育共享代码与思想的协作环境，我们旨在降低RT-mPAI的技术门槛与成本壁垒，从而普及稳定RT-mPAI研究的可及性，并更宏大地推动一个充满活力的开源社区建设。