Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

A Direction-Sensitive Radiation Detector for Low-Altitude, UAV-based Radiological Source Search

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/pn89d967c

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  • Many devices and methods for radiological searches are currently being developed, including scanning using simple detectors, mapping using large-volume detectors, and Compton imaging using 3-D position sensitive detectors. However, these devices are typically expensive and the methods used require long periods of time to generate a direction or location. The Radiation Compass, currently being developed at Oregon State University, is a low-cost detector designed for dynamic use on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and will generate a most probable source direction that will be used to guide the motion of the UAV. The prototype detection system is composed of sixteen detection elements based on a BGO crystal coupled to a SiPM and arranged in a circular array. A specific detector response pattern of radiation count rates is generated based on the passive masking of detection elements on opposite sides of the array, and each of the detector panels is able to rotate to optimize its efficiency with respect to the Radiation Compass altitude. Three direction estimation methods were investigated and used to study the performance of the Radiation Compass. The Radiation Compass is able to detect the presence of a 10 µCi ¹³⁷Cs source in under 8 seconds with 95% confidence at a background rate of 25.5 counts per second at ground level at a distance of 100 cm from the center of the Radiation Compass. The device also achieved an an accuracy of 1.8° and a 95% confidence width of 8.6° for a 12.3 µCi ¹³⁷Cs source in 60 seconds at ground level, at a background rate of 13.12 counts per second, and a distance of 100 cm from the center of the detector.
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