Nuclear pulse height measurement using FPGA techniques

The present work is to use FPGAs as a digital processor for pulse height measurement. A digital periodic triangle signal is generated by an up-down counter with a positive edge trigger and followed by a synthesizable digital to analog converter (DAC) to generate pulse height information directly. The present pulse height processor is further connected to a personal digital assistant (PDA) to use as a portable spectrometer for field use as a simple nuclide identification tool.