Implementation of a real-time adaptive digital shaping for nuclear spectroscopy

Abstract

This paper presents the structure, design and implementation of a new adaptive digital shaper for processing the pulses generated in nuclear particle detectors. The proposed adaptive algorithm has the capacity to automatically adjust the coefficients for shaping an input signal with a desired profile in real-time. Typical shapers such as triangular, trapezoidal or cusp-like ones can be generated, but more exotic unipolar shaping could also be performed. A practical prototype was designed, implemented and tested in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Particular attention was paid to the amount of internal FPGA resources required and to the sampling rate, making the design as simple as possible in order to minimize power consumption. Lastly, its performance and capabilities were measured using simulations and a real benchmark.