Distributed coincidence detection for multi-ring based PET systems

The design and realization of a truly scalable, distributed real time coincidence detection technique for multi-ring based Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems is presented in this work. To ensure scalability to various PET configurations, the design was optimized at two abstraction levels. First, at the system level, a network was designed to facilitate lower packet latency. Second, at the node level, a coincidence detection unit was designed to perform coincidence detection in one clock cycle only.