Year
1990
Abstract
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed an Ultrasonic Ranging and Data System (USRADS) to track a radiation surveyor in the 1'ield, to log his instrument's reading automatically, and to provide tabular and graphical data display in the field or in the office. Once each second, USRADS computes the position of the radiation surveyor by using the time-of-flight of an ultrasonic chirp, emitted by a transducer carried in a backpack, to stationary receivers deployed in the field. When the ultrasonic transducer is pulsed, a microprocessor in the backpack radios the start time and survey instrument's reading to the master receiver at the base station (a van or truck). A portable computer connected to the master receiver plots the surveyor's position on the display, and stores his position and instrument reading. The CHEMRAD corporation has just completed a survey of the ORNL main plant area using two radiation survey instruments simultaneously: (1) a ratemeter connected to a Nal crystal that is swung in a arc near the ground, to look for surface contamination, and (2) a small pressurized ionization chamber (PIC), attached to the backpack frame at a height of 3 ft, to measure the exposure rate.