System and method for radioisotope identification
First Claim
1. A method for analyzing spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates a substantially contained space for presence of one or more radioactive materials of interest, comprising:
- grouping materials that could be in a detection path of the detector into one of a plurality of material groups by evaluating energy versus photon cross section and/or energy versus neutron cross section of the materials and such that the plurality of material groups are representative of all materials that could be in the detection path of the detector, and wherein a cross section of a material is a likelihood of interaction between radiation and particles of the material;
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;
at a computing device, computing interactions of each radioactive material of interest with the material groups using the representative energy versus cross section curve for each material group to produce spectral data for the radioactive material of interest;
at a computing device, generating a library of spectral data comprising the spectral data computed for each radioactive material of interest;
storing the library of spectral data in a data storage device;
detecting radiation from the space with the detector and producing spectral data with the detector; and
at a computing device, analyzing the spectral data produced by the detector against the library of spectral data to determine presence of a radioactive material of interest in the space.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for analyzing spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates a substantially contained space for presence of one or more radioactive materials of interest, comprising:
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grouping materials that could be in a detection path of the detector into one of a plurality of material groups by evaluating energy versus photon cross section and/or energy versus neutron cross section of the materials and such that the plurality of material groups are representative of all materials that could be in the detection path of the detector, and wherein a cross section of a material is a likelihood of interaction between radiation and particles of the material; 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; at a computing device, computing interactions of each radioactive material of interest with the material groups using the representative energy versus cross section curve for each material group to produce spectral data for the radioactive material of interest; at a computing device, generating a library of spectral data comprising the spectral data computed for each radioactive material of interest; storing the library of spectral data in a data storage device; detecting radiation from the space with the detector and producing spectral data with the detector; and at a computing device, analyzing the spectral data produced by the detector against the library of spectral data to determine presence of a radioactive material of interest in the space. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for determining whether a radioactive material of interest is present in a space from spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates the space, comprising:
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storing in a data storage device a library of spectral data representing interactions of radioactive materials of interest with each of a plurality of groups of materials using data describing a representative energy versus cross section curve for each of the plurality of groups of materials, wherein the plurality of material groups are representative of all materials that could be in a detection path of the detector, and wherein the materials are grouped by evaluating energy versus photon cross section and/or energy versus neutron cross section of the materials, and a cross section of a material is a likelihood of interaction between radiation and particles of the material; detecting radiation from the space with the detector and producing spectral data with the detector; and at a computing device, analyzing the spectral data from the detector against the library of spectral data to determine whether a radioactive material of interest is present in the space. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for determining the presence of a radioactive material of interest in a space based on spectral data produced by a detector that interrogates the space, comprising:
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a detector configured to detect radiation from the space and to produce spectral data from the detected radiation; a data storage device that is configured to store a library of spectral data representing interactions of radioactive materials of interest with each of a plurality of groups of materials using data describing a representative energy versus cross section curve for each of the plurality of groups of materials, wherein the plurality of material groups are representative of all materials that could be in a detection path of the detector and the materials are grouped by evaluating energy versus photon cross section and/or energy versus neutron cross section of the materials, and a cross section of a material is a likelihood of interaction between radiation and particles of the material; and a computational resource coupled to the data storage, wherein the computational resource is configured to analyze the spectral data against the library of spectral data to determine whether the spectral data indicates presence of a radioactive material of interest in the space wherein the computational resource is configured to analyze spectral data gathered from the detector against the library of spectral data stored in the data storage device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
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receive spectral data output from a detector that detects radiation from a space; determine whether a radioactive material of interest is present in space from the spectral data produced by the detector by analyzing the spectral data against a library of spectral data representing interactions of radioactive materials of interest with each of a plurality of groups of materials using data describing a representative energy versus cross section curve for each of the plurality of groups of materials, wherein the plurality of material groups are representative of all materials that could be in a detection path of the detector, the materials are grouped by evaluating energy versus photon cross section and/or energy versus neutron cross section, and a cross section of a material is a likelihood of interaction between radiation and particles of the material. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification