PDAQ - a fast data acquisition system for the RatCAP tomograph

We describe a custom data acquisition system for the RatCAP tomograph. It is a small, head-mounted PET detector designed to image the brain of an awake rat. At its core, the tomograph consists of a number of LSO crystals read out with an array of APDs. The data will be collected through a custom-designed ASIC, along with a custom VME board. We describe the design, implementation, and performance of a versatile VME-based data acquisition system which will be used to read out the VME board, as well as other off-the-shelf data acquisition electronics.