Toward more testable security equipment

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Nuclear Materials Management. Annual Meeting Proceedings; (United States)

OSTI ID:5249085

Spencer, D D; Murray, D W ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

An important functional aspect of most security related equipment is the need for periodic performance testing. Sensors, entry-control devices, and other such security equipment usually have some sort or reliability or testing requirements. Unfortunately, testing requirements are seldom considered during equipment design, and testing becomes a prohibitively expensive or inconvenient afterthought. In this paper work at Sandia National Laboratories to address this concern is presented, focusing on metal detectors as a test case. Field testing of metal detectors is usually done by passing a test object through the opening to see whether an alarm is generated or not. Such alarm/no-alarm data are poor for making reliability estimates, and thus, a large quantity of such data is required to make good reliability statements. The detector itself uses much better internal information. Experiments tapping into some of this internal data will be discussed, and conclusions will be drawn about the possibility of redesign of metal detectors for enhanced testability. Such conclusions have implications for other types of security-related devices, as well.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5249085
• Report Number(s): CONF-910774-; CODEN: NUMMB
• Journal Information: Nuclear Materials Management. Annual Meeting Proceedings; (United States), Vol. 20; Conference: 32. Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) annual meeting, New Orleans, LA (United States), 28-31 Jul 1991; ISSN 0362-0034
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
EQUIPMENT
PERFORMANCE TESTING
SECRECY PROTECTION
ALARM SYSTEMS
DESIGN
DETECTION
METALS
RELIABILITY
SANDIA LABORATORIES
ELEMENTS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
TESTING
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
055000* - Nuclear Fuels- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability
440800 - Miscellaneous Instrumentation- (1990-)