A Real Time Digital Coincidence Processor for Positron Emission Tomography

A Real Time Digital Coincidence Processor has been developed for use in the Positron Emission Tomograph (PET) ECAT® scanners manufactured by Computer Technology and Imaging, Inc. (CTI). The primary functions of the Coincidence Processor include: receive from the BGO detector modules serial data, which includes timing information and detector identification; process the received data to form coincidence detector pairs; and present the coincidence pair data to a Real Time Sorter . The primary design emphasis was placed on the Coincidence Processor being able to process the detector data into coincidence pairs at real time rates. This paper will briefly describe the Coincidence Processor and some of the considerations that went into its design.