System and Method for Radioisotope Identification
AssigneeITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.
InventorAnthony B. Kaye
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method are providing for analyzing radiation signature data (i.e., spectral data) produced by a detector device against stored data representing the computed interaction of known radioisotopic spectra with a representative cross section for each of a small number of material groups. Each material group comprises materials expected to be in a detection path of the detector and which exhibit similar cross sections. Comparative analysis is made of the spectral data received from the detector for threat materials to determine whether the spectral data indicates presence of a threat material in the interrogated space. The system and method is not limited to any particular detector type, and may be used with any detector that produces spectral data.
Claims21
A method for analyzing spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates a substantially contained space for presence of one or more materials of interest, comprising:
- a. grouping materials expected to be in a detection path of the detector into one of a plurality of material groups based on similarities in cross sections of the materials;
- b. selecting data describing a representative energy versus cross section curve for each material group from cross sections of individual materials in the respective material group;
- c. computing interaction of each material of interest with one or more of the material groups using the representative energy versus cross section curve for the respective material groups to produce spectral data for the material of interest;
- d. generating a library of spectral data comprising the spectral data computed for each material of interest;
- and
- e. analyzing the spectral data produced by the detector against the library of spectral data to determine presence of a threat material in the space.
A method for determining whether a threat material of interest is present in a space from spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates the space, comprising analyzing the spectral data from the detector against a library of spectral data representing interaction of materials of interest with one or more groups of materials, where each group of material comprises materials expected to be in a detection path of the detector that have similar cross sections.
A system for determining the presence of a threat material of interest in a space based on spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates the space, comprising:
- a. a data storage that stores a library of spectral data representing interaction of radioactive materials of interest with one or more groups of materials, where each group of material comprises materials expected to be in a detection path of the detector that have similar cross sections;
- and
- b. a computational resource coupled to the data storage, wherein the computational resource analyzes the spectral data against the library of spectral data to determine whether the spectral data indicates presence of a material of interest in the space.
A computer readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to determine whether a threat material of interest is present in space from spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates the space, by analyzing the spectral data against a library of spectral data representing interaction of materials of interest with one or more groups of materials, where each group of material comprises materials expected to be in a detection path of the detector that have similar cross sections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.