Trans-PET: Towards plug and imaging coincidence measurement

Recently, there is growing interest in directly digitizing the scintillation pulses in PET detectors. With digital pulse samples, in principle one can apply nontrivial signal analysis software algorithms to either yield better detection performance or more flexibility in detector design. Previously, we have proposed the MVT method for direct scintillation pulse sampling and developed several kinds of digital PET detectors named basic detector modules (BDM). These highly modular detectors output the resulting MVT samples in a uniform data format via a RJ45 connector while adopting the UDP protocol. For PET systems based on these detectors, single-event processing and coincidence filtering are all carried out by softwares. As a result, new processing/filtering methods can be readily updated or upgraded. Therefore, we wish to provide a BDM based design architecture to enable quick setup of a PET system. We use two system geometry definition files, named the SG file1 and SG file2, to define the types and number of the BDMs employed, as well as their positions and orientations. The MVT data processing like single event information retrieving, coincidence filtering, data format conversion, image reconstruction and data/image analysis are carried out by separate software modules with standard input and output definitions. Those software modules can be conveniently modified or replaced, and be put into cascade chains to provide desired functions. In this work, we present such a BDM based system design architecture, as well as the BDMs newly developed. As an example, a panel PET system adopting this architecture with 12 BDMs is shown with phantom imaging result.