OPTIma: An Interim Report

OPTima is the largest UKRI research grant that the University holds and is led by Professor Nigel Allinson, MBE (College of Science).

It is developing the next generation instrument to take three-dimensional CT images using protons to improve cancer treatment using Proton Beam Therapy. The instrument will be installed in the Research Room at the NHS Christie Proton Beam Therapy Centre, Manchester. The overall instrument is designed; the custom silicon sensors have been manufactured and tested – all 36 of them.

The custom integrated circuit that will read the output of these sensors is about to enter a silicon foundry in Germany. The electronics system that will record, process and store the data is currently being manufactured, also, in Germany. Having to cope with up to a billion events per second, it is an enormous system with nearly 200 custom integrated circuit and over 100 Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) – these devices each have the complexity and power of personal computer. The data output of the instrument is equivalent to about 2,000 HDTV channels. The picture shows the general appearance of the heart of the instrument.

Story submitted by Nigel Allinson
nallinson@lincoln.ac.uk