Data Acquisition and Analysis of the UNCOSS Underwater Explosive Neutron Sensor

The purpose of the FP7 UNCOSS project (Underwater Coastal Sea Surveyor, http://www.uncoss-project.org) is to develop a neutron-based underwater explosive sensor to detect unexploded ordnance lying on the sea bottom. The Associated Particle Technique is used to focus the inspection on a suspicious ob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2012-08, Vol.59 (4), p.1438-1442
Main Authors: Carasco, Cédric, Eleon, Cyrille, Perot, Bertrand, Boudergui, Karim, Kondrasovs, Vladimir, Corre, Gwenolé, Normand, Stéphane, Sannie, Guillaume, Woo, Romuald, Bourbotte, Jean-Michel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ALUMINIUM
Associated particle technique
ATTENUATION
CALCIUM
Chemicals
COMPUTER CODES
Counting
CROSS SECTIONS
DATA ACQUISITION
data acquisition electronics
DATA ANALYSIS
Detectors
Digitization
ENERGY SPECTRA
Explosions
EXPLOSIVES
fast neutron interrogation
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
IRON
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRON DETECTION
Neutrons
PHOTONS
SEAWATER
SENSORS
SIGNALS
SILICON
Software
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD
Two dimensional
UNDERWATER
underwater explosive detection
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Summary:The purpose of the FP7 UNCOSS project (Underwater Coastal Sea Surveyor, http://www.uncoss-project.org) is to develop a neutron-based underwater explosive sensor to detect unexploded ordnance lying on the sea bottom. The Associated Particle Technique is used to focus the inspection on a suspicious object located by optical and electromagnetic sensors and to determine if there is an explosive charge inside. This paper presents the data acquisition electronics and data analysis software which have been developed for this project. A field programmable gate array that digitizes and processes the signal allows to perform precise time-of-flight and gamma-ray energy measurements. The gamma-ray spectra are unfolded into pure elemental count proportions, mainly C, N, O, Fe, Al, Si, and Ca. The C, N, and O count fractions are converted into chemical proportions, taking into account the gamma-ray production cross sections, as well as neutron and photon attenuation in the different shields between the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and the explosive, such as the explosive iron shell, seawater, and ROV envelop. A two-dimensional (2D) barycentic representation of the C, N, and O proportions is built from their chemical ratios, and a 2D likelihood map is built from the associated statistical and systematic uncertainties. The threat level is evaluated from the best matching materials of a database including explosives.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.2011.2167021