An electronic detector simulator for testing position, energy, and timing spectral performance of detector electronics

Repeatable and accurate spectral evaluation of detector front-end electronics is necessary to ensure proper operation of positron emission tomography (PET) and other nuclear detection systems. A block-detector simulator has been developed that repeatably emulates the position and energy spectral output of PET block detectors having four photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to decode event position from a crystal scintillator matrix. The simulator operates by mapping uniform random numbers to representative position (X and Y) and energy (E) spectra. Digital event values of X, Y, and E are then converted to the four corresponding digital PMT values which are converted to shaped analog pulses emulating the detector output. Measured position and energy spectra taken with the detector simulator closely match those observed with actual detectors. Random (uniform) or coincident timing spectra are generated by selecting a simulator clock source that is either uncorrelated or correlated respectively with the detector electronics timing clock.