Automated Gantry Test Bed for the Characterization and Development of Gamma-Radiation Detection Platforms

Uranium-238 or more colloquially known as depleted uranium (DU) and its subsequent

decay products can pose a public health hazard as well as environmental damage through

the emission of gamma radiation. DU and its hazardous decay products are most commonly

found at the surface in areas where munitions training and nuclear weapons development are

taking place. These sites are large in area, so the resulting creation of high volume low-level

waste created presents a time intensive, financially expensive and over-burdening of resources

to dispose of. Consequently, identifying DU with quality data and decreasing false positives in

the results assists regulators in the decision making process to reduce the volume of low-level

waste. An automated system to locate DU, is being developed and characterized, utilizing a

gantry system above a sandbox test bed through a mounted movable Germanium Gamma-ray

Imager (GeGI). A data acquisition program has been developed to fully automate the detec-

tor’s movement, position, and initiation of data collection using LabVIEW systems engineering

software. An automated simulated observational environment for the development and char-

acterization of autonomous robotic platforms to search for and identify radioactive material

has been developed and is discussed. User-inputted parameters can control the position and

data collection time per position through the use of a pulse generation technique to control

the GeGI’s own external data acquisition. All of which are controlled through the LabVIEW

program’s user interface. Further a graphical user interface (GUI) has been streamlined for the

use of the newly developed automated features of the gantry test bed in a laboratory-controlled

environment. All of the user interactions through the LabVIEW program, including the initi-

ation of data collection, can be limited to same computer system on which the GeGI itself is

operating from. Opening the door for future autonomous robotic systems development and

characterization beyond the in-laboratory sand box test bed. The developed system will be

used to characterize radiological detection technologies to be deployed on radiological surveying

systems