Date: 28/12/2012

AFE for digital x-ray packs precision

Analog Devices has unveiled Analog Front End(AFE) IC for digital X-ray equipment. The 256-channel ADAS1256 digital X-ray AFE packs all the analog signal sensing, filtering, amplifying and digitizing circuits. The charge amplifiers inside this IC produce very low-noise, with a noise figure of an equivalent charge of 560 electrons at a 2-picocoulomb full-scale range, the ADAS1256 enables high resolution digital X-ray images while reducing patient exposure to X-ray dose. The ADAS1256 has multiple functional power modes ranging from 1-mW/channel to 3-mW/channel, allowing manufacturers to address a wide range of digital X-ray modalities including portable radiology and mammography as well as high speed fluoroscopy and cardiac imaging.

“Thanks to the ultra-low-noise profile and dynamic range of the ADAS1256, digital X-ray technology will continue to deliver better diagnostic image quality and reduce radiation dosage applied to patients compared to existing digital X-ray systems,” said Pat O’Doherty, vice president, healthcare group, Analog Devices. “By achieving this level of performance while adhering to a strict power budget, the ADAS1256 digital X-ray AFE provides medical equipment designers with a single device that serves the growing high-performance requirements of the portable digital X-ray market.”

The ADAS1256 is a 256-channel, simultaneous sampling, high dynamic range, low power analog front end that is a complete charge-to-digital conversion signal chain. It incorporates 256 low noise integrators, low pass filters, and correlated double samplers that are multiplexed into a high speed, 16-bit, analog-to-digital converter (ADC). All converted channel results are output on a single LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling) self-clocked serial interface. The ADAS1256 can be programmed using an SPI-compatible daisy-chain serial interface. It is delivered on a high density system-on-flex (SOF) package and can be directly mounted on a digital X-ray panel.