Radiation Detection — Faster, Simpler, Cheaper
Radiation Detection Instruments for Industry and Security
Radiation Detection Instruments for Industry and Security
Programmable MCA for all scintillators, with PMT or SiPM, measures energy histograms and count rates.
These MCA have an embedded 32-bit ARM processor, which allows them to act autonomously, without the aid of a host computer.
The ARM processor stabilizes MCA gain (keV/bin), trigger threshold, and maximum measurable energy.
A Post-Covid design avoids obsolete parts and ensures that the MCA is available in large quantities.
The MCA is intended to be integrated into the developer's instrument and business. Hence all software is open source.
The software runs under Windows and many Linux installations. It runs on a Raspberry Pi.
The MCA communicates via USB, serial UART, and uses RS485 for long distances.
The MCA embedded software can be updated via USB and encrypted files.
The MCA can store a background spectrum and compare it against a measured sample; eg measuring the likelihood that the sample is no more radioactive than the background.
The MCA has an embedded function to track slowly changing backgrounds and alarm when a significant source of radioactivity passes by.
A mobile detector may encounter a slowly changing background (without causing an alarm) but should alarm when the radiation level suddenly increases significantly.
Instead of alarming on meaningless quantities like count rates, the user can program an acceptable false-alarm probability – eg 1 in 1 million.
The MCA implements neural network processing in an FPGA on a micro-second scale.
Paired with a Boron-10/ZnS detector, the MCA acts a highly efficient neutron detector in which a neural network rejects the gamma-rays.
Developers can supply the coefficients for the embedded neural network to implement their own phoswiches based on pulse shape discrimination.
Custom embedded C-code implements a multilayer neural network, for instance for radio-isotope identification.