MRI Compatible G-Link and PCI Based Data Acquisition Hardware for the RatCAP Scanner

The RatCAP (Rat Conscious Animal PET) is a miniature PET scanner intended for neurological and behavioral studies of small awake animals. The RatCAP detectors are based on Hamamatsu 4 times 8 APD arrays (S8550) coupled to lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillators of 2 times 2 times 5 mm³ in size. These detectors are coupled to a custom front-end Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) realized in a CMOS 0.18 mum technology. From this point on in the data stream, the data acquisition hardware has been completely redesigned, replacing previous obsolete VME based system with an optical system which can withstand the environment within an MRI scanner for the intended application of simultaneous PET and MR imaging. Agilent HDMP-1022-1024 G-Link, SDX-19-4-1-S Stratos Lightwave optical transceivers and PCI technology based high speed data acquisition hardware is expected to support a transfer rate up to 70 MB/sec. This hardware system mainly comprises two electronics modules which are read out using Windows/Linux based data acquisition software.