Anomaly metrics to differentiate threat sources from benign sources in primary vehicle screening.

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1029822· OSTI ID:1029822

Cohen, Israel Dov; Mengesha, Wondwosen

Discrimination of benign sources from threat sources at Port of Entries (POE) is of a great importance in efficient screening of cargo and vehicles using Radiation Portal Monitors (RPM). Currently RPM's ability to distinguish these radiological sources is seriously hampered by the energy resolution of the deployed RPMs. As naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) are ubiquitous in commerce, false alarms are problematic as they require additional resources in secondary inspection in addition to impacts on commerce. To increase the sensitivity of such detection systems without increasing false alarm rates, alarm metrics need to incorporate the ability to distinguish benign and threat sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) and clustering technique were implemented in the present study. Such techniques were investigated for their potential to lower false alarm rates and/or increase sensitivity to weaker threat sources without loss of specificity. Results of the investigation demonstrated improved sensitivity and specificity in discriminating benign sources from threat sources.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1029822
• Report Number(s): SAND2011-6827
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CARGO
DETECTION
ENERGY RESOLUTION
METRICS
MONITORS
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
SENSITIVITY
SPECIFICITY
TRADE