A projection data rebinning device for nearest-neighbor rebinning in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using on-line 3D axial LOR-to-bin mapping. The PETLINK.TM. DMA Rebinner (PDR) of the present invention includes a PCI card for on-line translation of detector-pair event packets into bin-address packets. The PDR delivers accurate axial and transaxial LOR nearest-neighbor rebinning and enables the more oblique LOR to be mapped into the proper sinogram bins. The PDR is used in association with hardware architecture in electrical communication with a medical imaging device. The data acquisition architecture includes a processor, random access memory (RAM), an operating system, and a data storage device. The PDR includes a plurality of FPGAs and flash chips. The FPGAs are in communication with each other via a high-bandwidth connection. The flash memory chips are used for look-up tables. The PDR performs on-line translation of detector-pair event packets into bin-address packets.