Patent ID: 7220967

Claim:
A radioactive material detection system comprising: a plurality of radioactive material detection apparatuses, each apparatus being disposed in or on a cargo receptacle and each apparatus comprising: a wireless transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting information in correspondence with a signal; a radiation sensor having a sensor output, the radiation sensor being configured to detect radiation over a predetermined or commanded period of time; and a detection controller configured to receive the sensor output from the radiation sensor and to send the signal to the wireless transmitter for transmission; and an identification tag electrically coupled to one of the controller and the wireless transmitter, the identification tag being configured to provide identification data or location data to the information being transmitted by the wireless transmitter; and a command center configured to receive the wirelessly transmitted information directly or indirectly from each of the wireless transmitters of the plurality of radioactive material detection apparatuses, the system being configured to detect fissile or nuclear material that emits radiation by establishing a background radiation space derived from the information sensed by the plurality of radioactive material detection apparatuses to distinguish an anomaly amongst the plurality of radioactive material detection apparatuses, the system having a first sensitivity to detectable radiation and a second sensitivity to detectable radiation and being configured to be adjusted from the first sensitivity to detectable radiation to the second sensitivity to detectable radiation based on one of a remote user command, a user command at the command center and an automatic rules-based command.