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These days, research on the classification of neutron/gamma waveforms in scintillators using pulse shape discrimination (PSD) techniques is a highly studied topic. Numerous methods have been explored to optimize this classification, with some of the most recent research being focused on machine learning techniques with excellent results. These approaches are mainly based on the use of 1-D convolutional neural networks (CNNs). In this field, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) with high-sampling rate analog to digital converters (ADCs) have been used to perform this classification in real-time. In this work, we select a potential architecture and implement it with the help of the IntelFPGA OpenCL SDK environment. A shorter and C-like development of OpenCL enables a more straightforward modification and optimization of the network architecture. The main goal of this work is the evaluation of the needed resources and the obtained performance to prototype a complete solution in the FPGA. The FPGA design is generated as if it was connected to an ADC module streaming the data samples with the help of a Board Support Package developed for an IntelFPGA ARRIA10 available in an Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) module in an Micro Telecommunications Computing Architecture (MTCA.4) platform. The prototyped solution has been integrated into Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) using the nominal device support (NDS) model currently being developed by ITER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basic concepts and the development of a high counting rate digital spectrometry system based on efficient ADCs and latest available FPGA are presented with the aim of using such a system, coupled to fast scintillators, in plasma experiments. The prototype system is a 1 channel 12-bit 1 GSPS digitizer with 2~\mathrm V\mathrm {pp} input voltage. Preliminary results tested with different radioactive sources are shown for low (0.03 Mcps) and high (2.2 Mcps) counting rates. A comparison of energy spectra and energy resolution with what obtained by a commercial device is also shown. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Time-of-flight (TOF) and coincident scattering measurements were conducted to measure the light response of a pressurized ^4He fast neutron scintillation detector as a function of deposited energy up to 5 MeV. The energy deposited in the detector by a neutron was measured by its angle of scatter and compared to the resulting light output. Whereas previous research has exclusively focussed on the energy information contained in the slow component, this work demonstrates that the fast component is also sensitive to neutron energy, and the entire scintillation signal can therefore be used. The gamma rejection capability of the detector was also measured for a variety of gamma sources. The detector demonstrated a inherent gamma rejection rate of 97.31%, which was increased to 99.89% after the application of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) algorithms. The characterization of gamma rejection and light response parameters will enable implementation of these detectors for neutron spectroscopy in mixed radiation fields. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the frame of the French trans-governmental R&D program against CBRN-E threats, CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) is studying the detection of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) by neutron interrogation with the Associated Particle Technique (APT). Coincidences including at least 3 fission neutrons or gamma rays induced by tagged neutrons are used to detect and distinguish SNM from benign materials in which lower multiplicity events of 1 or 2 particles are produced by (n,2n) or (n,n’\gamma) reactions. Coincidences are detected by fast plastic scintillators and correlated with tagged neutrons to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Dedicated data acquisition electronics (DAQ) have been developed with independent FPGA cards associated with each detector, so that the acquisition window can be opened by any of the plastic scintillators. DAQ tests in passive mode are presented, in which acquisition is triggered by the sum signal of all detectors. The system time and energy calibration and resolution are reported, as well as the qualification of numerical simulations thanks to experimental data acquired with simple setups using a ^252Cf source. Numerical studies for the design and performance of cargo container inspection are also performed with the MCNP-PoliMi computer code and the ROOT data analysis package. SNM detection in iron matrix is quite straightforward, but in organic matrix, data processing will need to combine more information to evidence SNM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A DAQ architecture for a PET system is presented that focuses on modularity, scalability and reusability. The system defines two basic building blocks: data acquisitors and concentrators, which can be replicated in order to build a complete DAQ of variable size. Acquisition modules contain a scintillating crystal and either a position-sensitive photomultiplier (PSPMT) or an array of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). The detector signals are processed by AMIC, an integrated analog front-end that generates programmable analog outputs which contain the first few statistical moments of the light distribution in the scintillator. These signals are digitized at 156.25 Msamples/s with free-running ADCs and sent to an FPGA which detects single gamma events, extracts position and time information online using digital algorithms, and submits these data to a concentrator module. Concentrator modules collect single events from acquisition modules and perform coincidence detection and data aggregation. A synchronization scheme over data links is implemented that calibrates each link’s latency independently, ensuring that there are no limitations on module mobility, and that the architecture is arbitrarily scalable. Prototype boards with both acquisition and concentration functionality have been built for evaluation purposes. The performance of a small PET system with two detectors based on continuous scintillators is presented. A synchronization error below 50 ps rms is measured, and energy resolutions of 19% and 24% and timing resolutions of 2.0 ns and 4.7 ns FWHM are obtained for PMT and SiPM photodetectors, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The physical performance characteristics of a prototype scanning digital mammography (DM) system have been investigated. The I-ImaS system utilises CMOS MAPS technology promoting on-chip data processing; consequently statistical analysis is therefore achievable in real-time for the purpose of exposure modulation via a feedback mechanism during the image acquisition procedure. The imager employs a dual array of twenty CMOS APS sensing devices each individually coupled to a 109 μm thick thallium doped structured CsI scintillator. The x-ray performance of the sensors was characterised where the presampled modulation transfer function (MTF), normalised noise power spectrum (NNPS), and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) was determined. The presampled MTF was measured utilising the slit technique and was found to be 0.1 at 6 lp/mm. The NNPS measured utilising a W/Al target/filter combination hardened with 38 mm PMMA was seen to decrease with increasing exposure as expected and the manifesting DQE was 0.30 at close to zero spatial frequency at an exposure of 1.75 mR. Preliminary image stitching of the individual steps acquired from the scanning system is presented. A conventionally acquired image that is without the implementation of beam modulation or off-line intelligence is compared and contrasted to an intelligently off-line processed image. Results indicate the implementation of real-time intelligence into the image acquisition phase of digital mammography is foreseeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detectors based on LYSO and LGSO scintillators in a phoswich arrangement coupled to an avalanche photodiode are used in the LabPETtrade, an all-digital positron emission tomography (PET) scanner for small animal imaging developed in Sherbrooke. A Wiener filter based crystal identification (CI) algorithm achieving excellent discrimination accuracy was recently proposed for crystal identification of LYSO-LGSO phoswich detectors . This algorithm was based on estimating parameters describing the scintillation decay time constant and the light yield of events sampled at 45 MSPS. The CI process was performed by applying a threshold on the scintillation decay parameter of events. The light yield was not considered in the CI process even if it should be. We propose a 2-fold faster CI approach which takes both the scintillation decay and light yield coefficients of each crystal into consideration. The new algorithm uses the previous Wiener filter based algorithm as a calibration process in order to evaluate the model of each individual crystal. The DAQ chain model as a priori knowledge is then incorporated into the model of each crystal and the output signal is estimated. The CI is performed by evaluating a single parameter representing the percentage contribution of each crystal characteristics in the event signal. The CI algorithm demonstrated a discrimination rate accuracy for LYSO-LGSO LabPET detectors and for LSO-GSO crystals in phoswich arrangement for 511 keV events. Although a calibration is required, the real-time implementation of the new CI algorithm needs 2 times less direct operations. An FPGA clocked at 400 MHz can process up to 25 M events/sec with such an algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We have developed a new X-ray cone-beam tomograph for in vivo small-animal imaging using a flat panel detector (CMOS technology with a microcolumnar CsI scintillator plate) and a microfocus X-ray source. The geometrical configuration was designed to achieve a spatial resolution of about 12 lpmm with a field of view appropriate for laboratory rodents. In order to achieve high performance with regard to per-animal screening time and cost, the acquisition software takes advantage of the highest frame rate of the detector and performs on-the-fly corrections on the detector raw data. These corrections include geometrical misalignments, sensor non-uniformities, and defective elements. The resulting image is then converted to attenuation values. We measured detector modulation transfer function (MTF), detector stability, system resolution, quality of the reconstructed tomographic images and radiated dose. The system resolution was measured following the standard test method ASTM E 1695 -95. For image quality evaluation, we assessed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) as a function of the radiated dose. Dose studies for different imaging protocols were performed by introducing TLD dosimeters in representative organs of euthanized laboratory rats. Noise figure, measured as standard deviation, was 50 HU for a dose of 10 cGy. Effective dose with standard research protocols is below 200 mGy, confirming that the system is appropriate for in vivo imaging. Maximum spatial resolution achieved was better than 50 micron. Our experimental results obtained with image quality phantoms as well as with in-vivo studies show that the proposed configuration based on a CMOS flat panel detector and a small micro-focus X-ray tube leads to a compact design that provides good image quality and low radiated dose, and it could be used as an add-on for existing PET or SPECT scanners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Near Detector for the MINOS Experiment at Fermilab is composed of alternating planes of scintillator strips and steel plates, and is read out with 64-channel, multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. The instrumentation uses a custom integrated circuit designed at Fermilab for the front end analog processing, called the QIE. The system can measure single photoelectrons to high precision with a dynamic range of 16 bits. The electronics operates in two modes. It records all events that occur during the 10 μs "fast spill" of the beam from the Fermilab Main Injector at a rate of 53 MHz, using a gate from the beamline controls to force data acquisition. The system can also acquire data from cosmic rays that pass through the detector for calibration. In this case, dynode signals from the photomultipliers are used as the trigger, causing digitization and readout of the associated channels. Zero suppression and normalization are done in the front end electronics. The system is "triggerless" in that there is no global hardware trigger. Instead, each event is tagged with a "timestamp", which is used in postprocessing to reconstruct events and discard noise hits. The system of 10,000 channels is now built and installed, and operational at Fermilab. The components of the system are described and preliminary system performance is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A data acquisition system for a positron emission tomograph (PET) based on avalanche photodiode (APD) readout of lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator crystals is presented. The analog data of each APD are read out by fast analog to digital converters (ADCs) and processed within field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The ADCs are continuously sampling with a 80 MHz, low jitter clock, which is synchronous for the whole detector. The main tasks of the FPGAs are pulse detection and extraction of signal timing information from the digitized data stream. The detected signal pulse data are therefore compared to a predefined set of pulse shapes with known phase shifts with respect to the sample clock. By searching for the best match within this calibration set, a precise start time information for the signal pulse can be determined. The calculated time values are then transmitted from the ADC cards via fiber optic links to multiplexer modules which combine the different data streams and can also perform further processing like search for coincident events. Finally, the preprocessed detector data are transmitted from the multiplexers to PCI cards in the image reconstruction computers by gigabit optical links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A readout method based on fast waveform digitalization is proposed which improves the performance of large multiwire proportional chambers (MWPCs) with delay-line readout. Atmospheric muon detection data are presented, obtained with a 1 mtimes1 m, 200 wire, MWPC and two plastic scintillators, having the same sensitive area, used for muon identification purposes. The performance of two alternative data acquisition configurations is compared: the standard one, based on analog constant fraction discriminators (CFDs), and one using 5 GS/s waveform digitizers in which a CFD-like analysis is performed offline. The latter is shown to provide better, and more uniform, space resolution, allowing to correct position-dependent rise-time variations across the detector. The new technique is applicable to low count-rate applications, such as muon attenuation measurements in large matter volumes [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An overview of the Dø Central Track Trigger (CTT) for the Tevatron Run 2 program is presented. This newly commissioned system uses information from the Dø Central Fiber Tracker and Preshower Detectors to generate trigger information for the first level of the three-tiered Dø Trigger. The system delivers tracking detector trigger decisions every 132 ns, based on input data flowing at a rate of 475 Gbit per second. Initial results indicate excellent performance of the CTT. First studies of efficiency and trigger performance of the CTT are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]