On-line trigger processing for a small animal RPC-Pet camera

A complex task for pet cameras is the design of an appropriate coincidence-detection trigger system as it usually encompasses coincidences in a large number of channels and tight time specifications. Those requirements are even greater for a resistive plate chamber (RPC)-based detector technology as the time window specification is quite small (in the order of a few hundred picoseconds) and the number of coincidence-channels can be quite large.