Optimization and Parameter Characterization for Rotating Scatter Mask Designs

Abstract

The Rotating Scatter Mask system, which consists of a NaI detector, plexiglass mask, and a small motor, is a low cost directional radiation detection system with a nearly 4pi field-of-view over a broad range of photon energies. However, the current mask design is limited by similarities in the directional modes of the detector response, causing potential misidentification errors when locating a source. A new class of RSM designs were simulated using MCNP and compared to the current mask design using the modal assurance criterion to characterize differentiability between directional modes. These masks were shown to successfully decouple the angular components of the source's direction, improving the average criterion value by up to 83 and limiting the directional uncertainty to the order of the physical system's angular resolution. Correlation between the geometry of the mask and the detector response for this new class of designs also presents an improved method for determining source direction, potentially enabling imaging capabilities. Finally, the new designs drastically improved the system's efficiency, reducing the time to identify the source by up to two orders of magnitude.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 22, 2018
Accession Number
AD1056260

Entities

People

  • Robert J. Olesen

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Band Structures
  • Computational Science
  • Databases
  • Detection
  • Energy Bands
  • Gamma Rays
  • Geometry
  • Information Science
  • Manufacturing
  • Measurement
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Scattering
  • Scintillation Counters
  • Three Dimensional
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Solar Physics
  • Systems Analysis and Design