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Title: A Comparison of Digital Signal Extraction Techniques

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15011424· OSTI ID:15011424

We compare the performance of two methods of digital filtering to detect a radioactive source moving past a gamma-ray sensor. The first method is the box-car filter, which is a standard method used in the detection of a moving radioactive source. The second method is the matched filter, which takes into account the variation in the number of photons absorbed in a gamma-ray sensor as a source moves past the sensor. We optimize both methods to detect a source moving at 5, 10, 15 and 20 mph, and the receiver-operator characteristics of the two techniques are plotted for comparison. The improvement of the matched filter over the box car filter is 27% at 5 mph and 22% at 10 mph for a 90% probability of detection and an average hours between false alarms equal to 10.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Energy (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
15011424
Report Number(s):
UCRL-TR-208848; TRN: US0501214
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 28 Dec 2004
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English