Cellular telephone-based wide-area radiation detection network

• US 20070018806A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Craig, William, Labov, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 7,545,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/500
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/00 Photometry, e.g. photographic exposure meter spectrophotometry G01J3/00; specially adapted for radiation pyrometry G01J5/00 ; exposure meters built in cameras G03B17/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/026 Semiconductor dose-rate meters
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 7/00 Details of radiation-measuring instruments

Abstract

A network of radiation detection instruments, each having a small solid state radiation sensor module integrated into a cellular phone for providing radiation detection data and analysis directly to a user. The sensor module includes a solid-state crystal bonded to an ASIC readout providing a low cost, low power, light weight compact instrument to detect and measure radiation energies in the local ambient radiation field. In particular, the photon energy, time of event, and location of the detection instrument at the time of detection is recorded for real time transmission to a central data collection/analysis system. The collected data from the entire network of radiation detection instruments are combined by intelligent correlation/analysis algorithms which map the background radiation and detect, identify and track radiation anomalies in the region.

Claims

1. A radiation detection network, comprising:

a central monitoring system having a data server connected to a wireless communications network; and

a plurality of radiation detection instruments widely distributed in a geographic region, each instrument comprising;

a mobile communications device having wireless means for communicating with the data server of the central monitoring system over the wireless communications network;

a radiation detector operably connected to said mobile communications device for measuring the individual energies of detected photons;

a clock-calendar operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the time-date associated with each detected photon; and

a locator operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the location of said instrument associated with each detected photon, said mobile communications device adapted to transmit data of the individual photon energies and the corresponding detection time-dates and detection locations associated with each to the data server of said central monitoring system,

wherein said central monitoring system includes means for collectively analyzing said data received from the plurality of radiation detection instruments, whereby a radiation source(s) may be identified and/or tracked.

2. The network of claim 1,

wherein the mobile communications device of each instrument is a cellular phone.

3. The network of claim 1,

wherein the wireless. means of each instrument is adapted to access the Internet using a web-based protocol for data transmission.

4. The network of claim 1,

wherein the wireless means of each instrument is adapted to access the Internet using an always-on mobile Internet connection system.

5. The network of claim 1,

wherein said mobile communications device of each instrument is adapted to automatically transmit the data in real time to the data server of the central monitoring system.

6. The network of claim 1,

wherein data is transmitted by said mobile communications device of each instrument to the data server of the central monitoring system in list mode to preserve full information content.

7. The network of claim 1,

wherein data is encrypted for transmission by each instrument to the data server of the central monitoring system.

8. The network of claim 1,

wherein said locator of each instrument is a coordinate locator based on an absolute coordinate system of location identification.

9. The network of claim 8,

wherein said coordinate locator is a GPS receiver.

10. The network of claim 1,

wherein said radiation detector of each instrument comprises a room temperature-operable solid state semiconductor material for measuring gamma-ray photons and/or neutrons.

11. The network of claim 10,

wherein said radiation detector of each instrument is formed from a material selected from a group consisting of cadmium zinc telluride, cadmium telluride, mercuric iodide, lead iodide and aluminum antimonide.

12. The network of claim 10,

wherein each radiation detection instrument further comprises a temperature sensor capable of measuring the temperature of the room temperature-operable solid state semiconductor material;

and means for adjusting the overall gain of the semiconductor material as a function of time based on the temperature measured by said temperature sensor, to improve spectral resolution of said radiation detector.

13. The network of claim 10,

wherein said radiation detector of each instrument is pixelated.

14. The network of claim 13,

wherein pixels located in regions of the detector having imperfections are disabled to improve overall detector resolution.

15. The network of claim 1,

wherein said radiation detector of each instrument is interconnected to a low-power VLSI readout.

16. The network of claim 1,

wherein each instrument further comprises means for identifying isotopes from the detected photon energies.

17. The network of claim 16,

wherein each instrument further comprises means for alerting a user upon isotope detection.

18. The network of claim 17,

wherein for each instrument the means for alerting is adapted to be triggered when a predetermined level of radiation is detected.

19. The network of claim 18,

wherein for each instrument the means for alerting is adapted not to be triggered when a benign isotope is identified, despite detection of the predetermined level of radiation.

20. The network of claim 1,

wherein said means for collectively analyzing the radiation and location data looks for correlations and deviations from background radiation.

21. A method of regional radiation monitoring comprising the steps of:

widely distributing a plurality of radiation detection instruments in a region, with each instrument comprising a mobile communications device having wireless means for communicating over a wireless communications network;

a radiation detector operably connected to said mobile communications device for measuring the individual energies of detected photons;

a clock-calendar operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the time-date associated with each detected photon; and

a locator operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the location of said instrument associated with each detected photon,

on a data server of a central monitoring system connected to the wireless communications network;

receiving data of the individual photon energies and the corresponding detection time-date and detection location associated with each from the plurality of radiation detection instruments in the region; and

collectively analyzing said received data whereby a radiation source(s) may be identified and/or tracked.

22. The method of claim 21,

wherein said collective analysis includes looking for correlations and deviations from background radiation.

23. The method of claim 21,

wherein said collective analysis produces a multi-dimensional map of the background radiation in the region, the energy dependence of the background radiation, and variations in background radiation as a function of associated detection parameters.

24. The method of claim 23,

wherein said associated detection parameters include detection time and detection location.

25. The method of claim 21,

wherein data is received from said instruments via the Internet using a web-based protocol for data transmission.

26. The method of claim 21,

wherein data is received from said instruments via the Internet using an always-on mobile Internet connection system.

27. The method of claim 21,

wherein data is received in real time by the data server of the central monitoring system due to the automatic data transmission from each instrument.

28. The method of claim 21,

wherein data is received in list mode to preserve full information content.

29. The method of claim 21,

wherein data is received encrypted.

30. The method of claim 21,

further comprising, upon receiving radiation data indicating a radiation source, utilizing said mobile communications device to communicate with users of said instruments to reconfigure the network.

31. The method of claim 21,

further comprising, upon receiving radiation data indicating a consequence management scenario, utilizing said mobile communications device to provide system-wide support to users of said instruments by coordinating and/or organizing consequence management efforts.

32. The method of claim 21,

wherein each radiation detection instrument further comprises a temperature sensor capable of measuring the temperature of the room temperature-operable solid state semiconductor material;

and means for adjusting the overall gain of the semiconductor material as a function of time based on the temperature measured by said temperature sensor, to improve spectral resolution of said radiation detector.

33. A wide-area detection network, comprising:

a central monitoring system having a data server connected to a wireless communications network; and

a plurality of detection instruments widely distributed in a geographic region, each instrument comprising;

a mobile communications device having wireless means for communicating with the data server of the central monitoring system over the wireless communications network;

an application-specific sensor operably connected to said mobile communications device for measuring application-specific parameters, wherein the application is chosen from the group consisting of radiation, chemical, temperature, shock, motion, aural, and visual detections;

a clock-calendar operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the time-date associated with each unit of the application-specific parameter; and

a locator operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the location of said instrument associated with each unit of the application-specific parameter, said mobile communications device adapted to transmit data of the individual units of the application-specific parameter and the corresponding detection time-dates and detection locations associated with each to the data server of said central monitoring system,

wherein said central monitoring system includes means for collectively analyzing said data received from the plurality of radiation detection instruments, whereby an application-specific source(s) may be identified and/or tracked.

34. A method of regional monitoring comprising the steps of:

widely distributing a plurality of application-specific detection instruments in a region wherein the application is chosen from the group consisting of radiation, chemical, temperature, shock, motion, aural, and visual detections with each instrument comprising a mobile communications device having wireless means for communicating over a wireless communications network;

an application-specific sensor operably connected to said mobile communications device for measuring an application-specific parameter;

a clock-calendar operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the time-date associated with each unit of the application-specific parameter; and

a locator operably connected to said mobile communications device for determining the location of said instrument associated with each unit of the application-specific parameter,

on a data server of a central monitoring system connected to the wireless communications network;

receiving data of the individual units of the application-specific parameter and the corresponding detection time-date and detection location associated with each from the plurality of detection instruments in the region; and

collectively analyzing said received data whereby an application-specific source(s) may be identified and/or tracked.