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Networking Radiation Sensor Systems NITRD Workshop September 20, 2012. Richard Vojtech, Ph.D. Principal Deputy Assistant Director Transformational and Applied Research Directorate Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. The Questions.
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Networking Radiation Sensor SystemsNITRD WorkshopSeptember 20, 2012 Richard Vojtech, Ph.D. Principal Deputy Assistant Director Transformational and Applied Research Directorate Domestic Nuclear Detection Office
The Questions • Will a networked system of portable radiation detectors outperform the same number of individual detector operating independently? • Will the networked system improve the ability to: • detect anomalous radioactive materials? • locate the materials? • identify the materials?
The Program Goal • To demonstrate advanced technologies that improve the ability to detect, localize, and identifyradiological sources by combining data from multiple radiation detector nodes. • Key Questions: • How does the performance of the ensemble compare to that of the • individual detectors? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system approach? • Do trends in the data suggest which types of scenarios will • benefit the most from a tightly coupled network?
“Intelligent” Radiation Sensor System Data Packet ~1 Hz Advanced algorithms combine the radiation, spatial, and temporal information from multiple sensors to make a collective assessment about the presence and location of radiological sources Sensor Array • Energy Spectrum • Sensor Position/Orientation • Timestamp N1 N2 Wireless Comms N5 N3 N4
Detector Devices Smiths Detection General Electric Passport Systems
System Characterization background step area Detector Pattern: Spiral + Rings Movable Track command trailers Subsetting 2 rings 6 quadrilaterals 7 triangles 2”x2” NaI (18) open “field” area Alt DD (4) Subsets 2 rings 6 quadrilaterals 7 triangles
Initial Impressions from a Networked System • In simple cases IRSS shows benefits of networking for detection and agrees well with theoretical expectations • Networking can provide reduction in false alarms at the system level compared to a collection of individual sensors • Tracking of moving sources (even with a single sensor) was achieved with non-directional sensors