Patent ID: 7759649

Claim:
A security system for detecting at least one unauthorized hazardous element in a container at a carrier vehicle, wherein the carrier vehicle includes a crane system for delivering the container, the security system comprising: one or more gamma sensors; and one or more solid-state neutron sensors, wherein the one or more gamma sensors and the one or more solid-state neutron sensors being collectively mounted on a frame structure of the carrier vehicle, referred to as a primary radiation sensor position, that is locatable in proximity to a container under examination; a secondary radiation sensor position, located separate from the primary radiation sensor position, and comprising one or more gamma sensors and one or more solid-state neutron sensors for further analyzing suspect gamma and neutron radiation that has been detected in the container under examination by the primary radiation sensor position; and a digital data collection system, communicatively coupled with the one or more gamma sensors and the one or more solid-state neutron sensors at the primary radiation sensor position and communicatively coupled to those at the secondary radiation sensor position, for collecting first radiation data from the one or more gamma sensors and the one or more solid-state neutron sensors at the primary radiation sensor position and for collecting second radiation data from those at the secondary radiation sensor position; a spectral analysis system, communicatively coupled with the digital data collection system, for spectrally analyzing collected first radiation data and collected second radiation data to identify one or more isotopes associated with the collected first and second radiation data, the collected second radiation data being combined with the collected first radiation data and the combination being spectrally analyzed to identify the one or more isotopes; and an information processing system, communicatively coupled with the spectral analysis system, for determining, based on the identified one or more isotopes, that at least one unauthorized hazardous element is in the container under examination.