CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COUNT RATE PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF HIGH COUNT RATES ON MODERN GAMMA CAMERAS

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE COUNT RATE PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF HIGH COUNT RATES ON MODERN GAMMA CAMERAS Michael Stephen Silosky, B.S. Supervisory Professor: S. Cheenu Kappadath, Ph.D. Evaluation of count rate performance (CRP) is an integral component of gamma camera quality assurance and measurement of system dead time (τ) is important for quantitative SPECT. The CRP of three modern gamma cameras was characterized using established methods (Decay and Dual Source) under a variety of experimental conditions. For the Decay method, input count rate was plotted against observed count rate and fit to the paralyzable detector model (PDM) to estimate τ (Rates method). A novel expression for observed counts as a function of measurement time interval was derived and the observed counts were fit to this expression to estimate τ (Counts method). Correlation and Bland-Altman analysis were performed to assess agreement in estimates of τ between methods. The dependencies of τ on energy window definition and incident energy spectrum were characterized. The Dual Source method was also used to estimate τ and its agreement with the Decay method under identical conditions and the effects of total activity and the ratio of source activities were investigated. Additionally, the effects of count rate on several performance metrics were evaluated. The CRP curves for each system agreed with the PDM at low count rates but deviated substantially at high count rates. Estimates of τ for the paralyzable portion of the CRP curves using the Rates and Counts methods were highly correlated (r=0.999) but with a small (~6%) difference. No significant difference was observed between the highly correlated estimates of τ using the Decay or Dual Source methods under identical experimental conditions (r=0.996). Estimates of τ increased as a power-law function with decreasing ratio of counts in the photopeak to the total counts and linearly with decreasing spectral effective energy. Dual Source method estimates of τ varied as a quadratic with the ratio of the single source to combined source activities and linearly with total activity used across a large range. Image uniformity, spatial resolution, and energy resolution degraded linearly with count rate and image distorting effects were observed. Guidelines for CRP testing and a possible method for the correction of count rate losses for clinical images have been proposed.

Solution-Combustion Synthesized Nanocrystalline Li4Ti5O12 As High-Rate Performance Li-Ion Battery Anode

Nanocrystalline Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) crystallizing in cubic spinel-phase has been synthesized by single-step-solution-combustion method in less than one minute. LTO particles thus synthesized are flaky and highly porous in nature with a surface area of 12 m(2)/g. Transmission electron micrographs indicate the primary particles to be agglomerated crystallites of varying size between 20 and 50 nm with a 3-dimensional interconnected porous network. During their galvanostatic charge-discharge at varying rates, LTO electrodes yield a capacity value close to the theoretical value of 175 mA h/g at C/2 rate. The electrodes also exhibit promising capacity retention with little capacity loss over 100 cycles at varying discharge rates together with attractive discharge-rate capabilities yielding capacity values of 140 mA h/g and 70 mA h/g at 10 and 100 C discharge rates, respectively. The ameliorated electrode-performance is ascribed to nano and highly porous morphology of the electrodes that provide short diffusion-paths for Li in conjunction with electrolyte percolation through the electrode pores ensuring a high flux of Li.

Sodium-ion battery cathodes Na2FeP2O7 and Na2MnP2O7: diffusion behaviour for high rate performance

Na-ion batteries are currently the focus of significant research activity due to the relative abundance of sodium and its consequent cost advantages. Recently, the pyrophosphate family of cathodes has attracted considerable attention, particularly Li2FeP2O7 related to its high operating voltage and enhanced safety properties; in addition the sodium-based pyrophosphates Na2FeP2O7 and Na2MnP2O7 are also generating interest. Herein, we present defect chemistry and ion migration results, determined via atomistic simulation techniques, for Na2MP2O7 (where M = Fe, Mn) as well as findings for Li2FeP2O7 for direct comparison. Within the pyrophosphate framework the most favourable intrinsic defect type is found to be the antisite defect, in which alkali-cations (Na/Li) and M ions exchange positions. Low activation energies are found for long-range diffusion in all crystallographic directions in Na2MP2O7 suggesting three-dimensional (3D) Na-ion diffusion. In contrast Li2FeP2O7 supports 2D Li-ion diffusion. The 2D or 3D nature of the alkali-ion migration pathways within these pyrophosphate materials means that antisite defects are much less likely to impede their transport properties, and hence important for high rate performance.

Bit error rate performance enhancement of a retrodirective array over a conventional fixed beam array in a dynamic multipath environment

In this paper, we provide experimental evidence to show that enhanced bit error rate (BER) performance is possible using a retrodirective array operating in a dynamically varying multipath environment. The operation of such a system will be compared to that obtained by a conventional nonretrodirective array. The ability of the array to recover amplitude shift keyed encoded data transmitted from a remote location whose position is not known a priori is described. In addition, its ability to retransmit data inserted at the retrodirective array back to a spatially remote beacon location whose position is also not known beforehand is also demonstrated. Comparison with an equivalent conventional fixed beam antenna array utilizing an identical radiating aperture arrangement to that of the retrodirective array are given. These show that the retrodirective array can effectively exploit the presence of time varying multipath in order to give significant reductions in BER over what can be otherwise achieved. Additionally, the retrodirective system is shown to be able to deliver low BER regardless of whether line of sight is present or absent.

In situ synthesis of LiV3O8 nanorods on graphene as high rate-performance cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries

We developed a facile two-step hydrothermal procedure to prepare hybrid materials of LiV₃O₈ nanorods on graphene sheets. The special structure endows them with the high-rate transportation of electrolyte ions and electrons throughout the electrode matrix, resulting in remarkable electrochemical performance when they were used as cathodes in rechargeable lithium batteries. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Binderless thin films of zeolite-templated carbon electrodes useful for electrochemical microcapacitors with ultrahigh rate performance

Controlled nanozeolite deposits are prepared by electrochemical techniques on a macroporous carbon support and binderless thin film electrodes of zeolite-templated carbon are synthesized using the deposits as templates. The obtained film electrodes exhibit extremely high area capacitance (10–12 mF cm−2) and ultrahigh rate capability in a thin film capacitor.

Bit-error rate performance of 20 Gbit/s WDM RZ-DPSK non-slope matched submarine transmission systems

Applying direct error counting, we assess the performance of 20 Gbit/s wavelength-division multiplexing return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) transmission at 0.4 bit/(s Hz) spectral efficiency for application on installed non-zero dispersion-shifted fibre based transoceanic submarine systems. The impact of the pulse duty cycle on the system performance is investigated and the reliability of the existing theoretical approaches to the BER estimation for the RZ-DPSK format is discussed.

Co3O4 nanostructures with a high rate performance as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, prepared via book-like cobalt-organic frameworks

The self-assembly of cobalt coordination frameworks (Co-CPs) with a two-dimensional morphology is demonstrated by a solvothermal method. The morphology of the Co-CPs has been controlled by various solvothermal conditions. The two-dimensional nanostructures agglomerated by Co3O4 nanoparticles remained after the pyrolysis of the Co-CPs. The as-synthesized Co3O4 anode material is characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements. The morphology of Co3O4 plays a crucial role in the high performance anode materials for lithium batteries. The Co3O4 nanoparticles with opened-book morphology deliver a high capacity of 597 mA h g-1 after 50 cycles at a current rate of 800 mA g-1. The opened-book morphology of Co3O4 provides efficient lithium ion diffusion tunnels and increases the electrolyte/Co3O4 contact/interfacial area. At a relatively high current rate of 1200 mA g-1, Co3O4 with opened-book morphology delivers an excellent rate capability of 574 mA h g-1.

Bit-error rate performance of 20 Gbit/s WDM RZ-DPSK non-slope matched submarine transmission systems

Applying direct error counting, we assess the performance of 20 Gbit/s wavelength-division multiplexing return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying (RZ-DPSK) transmission at 0.4 bit/(s Hz) spectral efficiency for application on installed non-zero dispersion-shifted fibre based transoceanic submarine systems. The impact of the pulse duty cycle on the system performance is investigated and the reliability of the existing theoretical approaches to the BER estimation for the RZ-DPSK format is discussed.

Rate capability of graphite materials as negative electrodes in lithium-ion capacitors

The lithium-ion exchange rate capability of various commercial graphite materials are evaluated using galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling in a half-cell configuration over a wide range of C-rates (0.1 similar to 60C). The results confirm that graphite is capable of de-intercalating stored charge at high rates, but has a poor intercalating rate capability. Decreasing the graphite coating thickness leads to a limited rate performance improvement of the electrode. Reducing the graphite particle size shows enhanced C-rate capability but with increased irreversible capacity loss (ICL). It is demonstrated that the rate of intercalation of lithium-ions into the graphite is significantly limited compared with the corresponding rate of de-intercalation at high C-rates. For the successful utilisation of commercially available conventional graphite as a negative electrode in a lithium-ion capacitor (LIC), its intercalation rate capability needs to be improved or oversized to accommodate high charge rates.

Single real-symbol decodable, high-rate, distributed space-time block codes

A scheme to apply the rate-1 real orthogonal designs (RODs) in relay networks with single real-symbol decodability of the symbols at the destination for any arbitrary number of relays is proposed. In the case where the relays do not have any information about the channel gains from the source to themselves, the best known distributed space time block codes (DSTBCs) for k relays with single real-symbol decodability offer an overall rate of complex symbols per channel use. The scheme proposed in this paper offers an overall rate of 2/2+k complex symbol per channel use, which is independent of the number of relays. Furthermore, in the scenario where the relays have partial channel information in the form of channel phase knowledge, the best known DSTBCs with single real-symbol decodability offer an overall rate of 1/3 complex symbols per channel use. In this paper, making use of RODs, a scheme which achieves the same overall rate of 1/3 complex symbols per channel use but with a decoding delay that is 50 percent of that of the best known DSTBCs, is presented. Simulation results of the symbol error rate performance for 10 relays, which show the superiority of the proposed scheme over the best known DSTBC for 10 relays with single real-symbol decodability, are provided.

High-rate analysis of channel-optimized vector quantization

High-rate analysis of channel-optimized vector quantizationThis paper considers the high-rate performance of channel optimized source coding for noisy discrete symmetric channels with random index assignment. Specifically, with mean squared error (MSE) as the performance metric, an upper bound on the asymptotic (i.e., high-rate) distortion is derived by assuming a general structure on the codebook. This structure enables extension of the analysis of the channel optimized source quantizer to one with a singular point density: for channels with small errors, the point density that minimizes the upper bound is continuous, while as the error rate increases, the point density becomes singular. The extent of the singularity is also characterized. The accuracy of the expressions obtained are verified through Monte Carlo simulations.

High-Rate Vector Quantization for Noisy Channels With Applications to Wideband Speech Spectrum Compression

This paper considers the high-rate performance of source coding for noisy discrete symmetric channels with random index assignment (IA). Accurate analytical models are developed to characterize the expected distortion performance of vector quantization (VQ) for a large class of distortion measures. It is shown that when the point density is continuous, the distortion can be approximated as the sum of the source quantization distortion and the channel-error induced distortion. Expressions are also derived for the continuous point density that minimizes the expected distortion. Next, for the case of mean squared error distortion, a more accurate analytical model for the distortion is derived by allowing the point density to have a singular component. The extent of the singularity is also characterized. These results provide analytical models for the expected distortion performance of both conventional VQ as well as for channel-optimized VQ. As a practical example, compression of the linear predictive coding parameters in the wideband speech spectrum is considered, with the log spectral distortion as performance metric. The theory is able to correctly predict the channel error rate that is permissible for operation at a particular level of distortion.

Full-rate full-diversity achieving MIMO precoding with partial CSIT

In this paper, we consider a slow-fading nt ×nr multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel subjected to block fading. Reliability (in terms of achieved diversity order) and rate (in number of symbols transmitted per channel use) are of interest in such channels. We propose a new precoding scheme which achieves both full diversity (nt ×nrth order diversity) as well as full rate (nt symbols per channel use) using partial channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The proposed scheme achieves full diversity and improved coding gain through an optimization over the choice of constellation sets. The optimization maximizes dmin2 for our precoding scheme subject to an energy constraint. The scheme requires feedback of nt - 1 angle parameter values, compared to 2ntnr real coefficients in case of full CSIT. Further, for the case of nt × 1 system, we prove that the capacity achieved by the proposed scheme is same as that achieved with full CSIT. Error rate performance results for nt = 3,4,8 show that the proposed scheme performs better than other precoding schemes in the literature; the better performance is due to the choice of the signal sets and the feedback angles in the proposed scheme.

Control circuits for avalanche photodiodes

Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) have been used in a wide range of low light sensing applications such as DNA sequencing, quantum key distribution, LIDAR and medical imaging. To operate the APDs, control circuits are required to achieve the desired performance characteristics. This thesis presents the work on development of three control circuits including a bias circuit, an active quench and reset circuit and a gain control circuit all of which are used for control and performance enhancement of the APDs. The bias circuit designed is used to bias planar APDs for operation in both linear and Geiger modes. The circuit is based on a dual charge pumps configuration and operates from a 5 V supply. It is capable of providing milliamp load currents for shallow-junction planar APDs that operate up to 40 V. With novel voltage regulators, the bias voltage provided by the circuit can be accurately controlled and easily adjusted by the end user. The circuit is highly integrable and provides an attractive solution for applications requiring a compact integrated APD device. The active quench and reset circuit is designed for APDs that operate in Geiger-mode and are required for photon counting. The circuit enables linear changes in the hold-off time of the Geiger-mode APD (GM-APD) from several nanoseconds to microseconds with a stable setting step of 6.5 ns. This facilitates setting the optimal `afterpulse-free' hold-off time for any GM-APD via user-controlled digital inputs. In addition this circuit doesn’t require an additional monostable or pulse generator to reset the detector, thus simplifying the circuit. Compared to existing solutions, this circuit provides more accurate and simpler control of the hold-off time while maintaining a comparable maximum count-rate of 35.2 Mcounts/s. The third circuit designed is a gain control circuit. This circuit is based on the idea of using two matched APDs to set and stabilize the gain. The circuit can provide high bias voltage for operating the planar APD, precisely set the APD’s gain (with the errors of less than 3%) and compensate for the changes in the temperature to maintain a more stable gain. The circuit operates without the need for external temperature sensing and control electronics thus lowering the system cost and complexity. It also provides a simpler and more compact solution compared to previous designs. The three circuits designed in this project were developed independently of each other and are used for improving different performance characteristics of the APD. Further research on the combination of the three circuits will produce a more compact APD-based solution for a wide range of applications.