Test Results for Large-Scale Cargo Inspection Technologies
Ron Bentley
Sensor Concepts & Applications, Inc.
Since its inception, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has been testing technologies for detecting the presence of nuclear threat materials and objects in commercial cargo. Tests have employed a set of cargoes that represent the spectra of density and heterogeneity seen in commerce (with tee shirts on one end and automobile engines on the other end of the scale, as examples). A collection of test objects of varying compositions and geometrical complexity (having key properties associated with potential nuclear threats) were hidden in the cargoes. Both passive and active interrogation techniques have been evaluated individually and in combinations.
Tested technologies have included currently-fielded technology (such as human interpretation of x-ray transmission radiographs) but the focus has been on leading-edge technologies (e.g., automated, dual-energy x-ray radiography and muon tomography). This talk will compare overall system performance (detection and false alarm frequency) across the technologies that DNDO has explored to date.
This work has been supported by the US Department of Homeland Security, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, under competitively awarded contract/IAA HSHQDC-16-D-00003. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.