Identifying charged particles using crucial features of the reconstructed waveforms is a widely exploited strategy for signal analysis in the class of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) techniques. This document details the design, development, and characterization of the hardware of a compact and low-power consumption telescope for data collection in space. The advanced energetic ion electron telescope (AGILE) experimental apparatus includes a stack of three 20-mm-diameter circular Si detector layers read-out by custom-made double-gain electronics that is optimized for the wide spectrum of expected energy depositions (1-100 MeV/nucleon). At the end of its front-end chain, the instrument uses a fast digitizing and sampler device based on commercial components, integrated in a control board developed by the collaboration. In this report, we motivate AGILE's hardware design and report the results obtained during the instrument's prototype laboratory test characterization.