In this work, an FPGA-based plain delay line TDC is presented, together with a theoretical model on its timing properties. The TDC features an automated calibration system implemented in the on-chip processor of a SoC-FPGA, uses a low amount of FPGA resources and is therefore suitable for applications requiring a high number of channels such as Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography. We first investigated the importance of calibration and validated the theoretical model on the TDC timing properties. Finally, the device has been embodied into a two channel Positron Emission Tomography acquisition system and tested. We found the calibration essential to obtain a good time resolution (38 ps FWHM in comparison with a 78 ps FWHM obtained with the uncalibrated device). The model we developed is able to predict the TDC timing properties. They are shown to be related to the fundamental parameters of the used FPGA technology. In particular, the best achievable time resolution of this specific architecture (plain tapped delay line on FPGA) is set to about 30 ps by the sum of the setup and hold times of the registers in the FPGA. The timing resolution of the twochannel setup is about 118 ps. Index Terms-FPGA, positron emission tomography, scintillators, time-of-flight, time-to-digital converters. I. INTRODUCTION IGH resolution instruments for measuring temporal intervals find various applications both in the industry and in research. Examples are optical spectroscopy, mass Manuscript received April 4, 2018. The research leading to these results has received partial funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 602621-Trimage.
In this work, an FPGA-based plain delay line TDC is presented, together with a theoretical model on its timing properties. The TDC features an automated calibration system implemented in the on-chip processor of a SoC-FPGA, uses a low amount of FPGA resources and is therefore suitable for applications requiring a high number of channels such as Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography. We first investigated the importance of calibration and validated the theoretical model on the TDC timing properties. Finally, the device has been embodied into a two channel Positron Emission Tomography acquisition system and tested. We found the calibration essential to obtain a good time resolution (38 ps FWHM in comparison with a 78 ps FWHM obtained with the uncalibrated device). The model we developed is able to predict the TDC timing properties. They are shown to be related to the fundamental parameters of the used FPGA technology. In particular, the best achievable time resolution of this specific architecture (plain tapped delay line on FPGA) is set to about 30 ps by the sum of the setup and hold times of the registers in the FPGA. The timing resolution of the twochannel setup is about 118 ps. IndexTerms-FPGA, positron emission tomography, scintillators, time-of-flight, time-to-digital converters. I. INTRODUCTION IGH resolution instruments for measuring temporal intervals find various applications both in the industry and in research. Examples are optical spectroscopy, mass Manuscript received April 4, 2018. The research leading to these results has received partial funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 602621-Trimage.
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