# Design and Development of SyMPET: System on chip Modular readout for high-resolution TOF-PET

> **NIH NIH R43** · NALU SCIENTIFIC, LLC · 2021 · $262,993

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Nalu Scientific LLC (NSL) proposes to develop and optimize the design of a SiPM-based,
low-power, high channel density, waveform-digitizing readout microchip for TOF-PET that will
increase image quality and provide more accurate and precise quantization for PET brain
imaging, with the potential to significantly improve early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease
while also allowing greater flexibility in the development of personalized patient imaging
strategies. NSL’s patented waveform-digitizing “System on Chip” readout ASIC technology has
the potential to substantially improve TOF-PET imaging from its current state. During Phase I,
we will build on the prior experience and knowledge we have gained using NSL’s technology in
developing state-of-the-art high energy and nuclear physics detectors to substantially improve
PET imaging readout systems through increased SNR, image contrast and quality, reduced
exposure times/dose, and reduced system cost to drive broad acceptance. These
improvements will initially focus on brain PET imaging but can be expanded to whole-body
systems. We will leverage NSL’s existing portfolio of low-power, low-cost WFD ASIC designs,
already proven to work in large particle physics detectors, to implement a PET-specific WFD
ASIC optimized for brain PET scanners but equally applicable to whole-body. We will initially
develop detailed analytic modeling of light production and transport in scintillating crystals, along
with realistic Monte Carlo simulations of sensor and readout electronics in order to derive
baseline technical specifications for both a fully optimized TOF-PET WFD readout chip as well
as a “bare-bones” implementation substantially based on circuit design elements derived from
one or more existing NSL chip designs. NSL’s “System on Chip” WFD architecture, with fully
random accessible analog storage, input triggering, and on-chip control capability, allows for a
number of highly effective mechanisms to cope with design issues such as e.g., throughput,
speed, and buffer length, will be crucial to optimize in the technical specification of a WFC ASIC
which meets performance goals while simultaneously fulfilling the stringent constraints on
physical and other characteristics such as size, weight, power, and cost that will be required in
any realistic TOF-PET system. We will collaborate with Dr. Hamid Sabet (Harvard) to define a
realistic full signal chain + readout model and subsequently evaluate its results to generate
ASIC technical specifications and architectural design for a substantially improved WFD readout
ASIC for TOF-PET systems relative to the current state of the art.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10385669
- **Project number:** 1R43EB032730-01
- **Recipient organization:** NALU SCIENTIFIC, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Kevin Flood
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $262,993
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10385669

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10385669, Design and Development of SyMPET: System on chip Modular readout for high-resolution TOF-PET (1R43EB032730-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10385669. Licensed CC0.

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