Title :
A compact data acquisition system for TOHR multidetectors: time encoding for both time and energy measurements
Author :
Pinot, L. ; Sellem, R. ; Cuzon, J.C. ; Lesage, A. ; Mastrippolito, R. ; Valentin, L.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Nucl. Phys., Orsay, France
fDate :
4/1/2003 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
TOHR is a high-resolution nuclear tomography system dedicated to imaging small live animals. We describe a fast PC-based data acquisition system used to acquire, assess, and store TOHR data. The system can handle high event rates (200 K quadruple-coincidence events/s) from the 15 TOHR photodetectors. High-level system control is provided by a Labview program running on a PC, while a fast, flexible data acquisition protocol is micromanaged by a digital signal processor (DSP) board housed in a PC. Essential hardware components, including detector-mounted charge-to-time converters, a data-routing multiplexer (FPGA based), and fast time-to-digital converters (225-ps resolution), are described in detail. This data acquisition system could be used in physics experiments.
Keywords :
computerised tomography; data acquisition; diagnostic radiography; digital signal processing chips; field programmable gate arrays; nuclear electronics; photodetectors; physical instrumentation control; DSP; FPGA; Labview program; TOHR multidetectors; compact data acquisition system; data-routing multiplexer; detector-mounted charge-to-time converters; digital signal processor; field programmable gate array; high event rates; high-level system control; high-resolution nuclear tomography system; photodetectors; quadruple-coincidence events; small live animals; time encoding; time-to-digital converters; Animals; Control systems; Data acquisition; Digital signal processors; Encoding; Energy measurement; High-resolution imaging; Photodetectors; Protocols; Tomography;
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TNS.2003.809470
