Patent ID: 8930165
Filing Date: 2015-01-06
Classification: G01T

Abstract:
1. A radiation detection system for obtaining a location of a radiation source within an environment, comprising: at least one detector array including a plurality of directional detectors at least partially self-occluding in relation to the radiation source, the detector array positionable within an environment and angularly orientatable in relation to the environment, the plurality of directional detectors configured to detect gamma-ray radiation emitted from the radiation source at an unknown location within the environment and distal from the position of the plurality of directional detectors; a processing unit in communication with the plurality of directional detectors and configured to receive radiation count data from the plurality of directional detectors, the processing unit adapted to determine a probability of a direction to the radiation source relative to the detector array based on the radiation count data obtained at a plurality of angles associated with the plurality of directional detectors; and an output unit in communication with the processing unit, the output unit adapted to report information indicative of the probability of the direction to the radiation source relative to the position of the detector array; wherein the at least one detector array comprises two or more detector arrays, the two or more detector arrays having an intersection of their respective directional radii such that direction and distance of the radiation source can be predicted by a probability surface given by, for an element i in array j denoted by A where η is a detector absolute efficiency, n is the number of gamma rays which are counts registered by the detector element, Δt is a time interval over which these counts registered λ is in general the probability of a single emission per unit time, with λ