SBIR-STTR Award

New approaches and techniques are required to effectively monitor and track radiological sources that are currently in use. We are proposing to develop a new class of monitoring and analysis methods that incorporate sensing information collected from zone-aware compact radiation detectors with built-in communications links. These intelligent tags are placed in designated areas where radiation sources are allowed for use and are remotely programmed with the radiation behavior expected within their respective zones (expected zonal behavior). They autonomously monitor themselves and their assigned zones and will use the existing buildings IT infrastructure to automatically report (to a centralized server) violations to any of the set behaviors that they might encounter. In Phase I of this project we focus on developing a proof-of-concept state-of-the-art radiation sensor network for the purpose of providing zonal-based radiation monitoring. We will also identify algorithms that minimize the number of sensors required to police a given zone and to extract signatures of removal or misuse activity given the lower sensitivities of compact detectors and the presence of varying background interference in these environments. This research directly benefits from prior effort conducted by ZonTrak and leading nuclear research institutions. Government agencies and the private sector have growing requirements to protect the general public against accidental or deliberate nuclear contaminations. This creates a number of attractive commercial opportunities for our proposed system. ZonTrak will apply its concurrent development and commercialization process to shorten the time to commercial products and production.