Inverse ratio of gamma-ray and neutron emissions in the detection of radiation shielding of containers
AssigneeVeritainer Corporation
InventorsJohn I. Alioto, Kenneth Greer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The presence of radiation shielding material concealing illegitimate content in a container is detected by obtaining each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from the container, and comparing the measured gamma-ray and neutron data to expected gamma-ray and neutron data. An anomaly between the measured data and the expected data is an indicum of the presence of such material shielding such illegitimate content.
Claims55
A method to determine the presence of radiation shielding material concealing illegitimate content in a container comprising steps of:
- obtaining each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from said container;
- and
- comparing each of said measured gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data to a respective one of expected gamma-ray data and expected neutron data wherein an anomaly between one of said measured gamma-ray and said expected gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data and said expected neutron data is an indicum of the presence of said material shielding said content.
A computer readable medium containing executable code operable to detect the presence of radiation shielding material concealing illegitimate content in a container, said code implementing procedures of:
- obtaining each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from said container;
- and
- comparing each of said measured gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data to a respective one of expected gamma-ray data and expected neutron data wherein an anomaly between one of said measured gamma-ray and said expected gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data and said expected neutron data is an indicum of the presence of said material shielding said content.
An apparatus to determine the presence of radiation shielding material concealing illegitimate content in a container comprising:
- a gamma-ray detector and a neutron detector respectively operable to obtain each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from said container;
- and
- a computer operable to compare each of said measured gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data to a respective one of expected gamma-ray data and expected neutron data wherein an anomaly between one of said measured gamma-ray and said expected gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data and said expected neutron data is an indicum of the presence of said material shielding said content.
A method of inspecting a container for a presence of illegitimate content comprising steps of:
- obtaining each of measured gamma-ray data and measured neutron data from said container to obtain a respective one of a container gamma-ray fingerprint and a container neutron fingerprint for said container;
- comparing each of said container gamma-ray fingerprint and said container neutron fingerprint to each one of a plurality of pairs of a weapon gamma ray fingerprint and a weapon neutron fingerprint wherein a heuristic match between said container gamma-ray fingerprint and said container neutron fingerprint and one of said pairs of said weapon gamma ray fingerprint and said weapon neutron fingerprint is an indicum of said presence of illegitimate content;
- and
- comparing, in the event said indicum of said presence of illegitimate content is null, each of said measured gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data to a respective one of expected gamma-ray data and expected neutron data wherein an anomaly between one of said measured gamma-ray and said expected gamma-ray data and said measured neutron data and said expected neutron data is an indicum of the presence of radiation shielding material concealing said illegitimate content.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.