Year
1976
Abstract
A portable, battery-powered gamma radiation detection system, the RBM 1100 Road Block Monitor, is described. The detector is a 12.7-cm diameter by 2.54-cm thick NaI(T&) integral assembly, housed in a weatherproof, insulated case with high and low voltage batteries, amplifier, lower level discriminator, low power CMOS logic electronics, and a VHF FM transmitter. Alarms indicating the presence of radioactive material are generated by a logic system that periodically stores a trip level based on an average background plus an internally-calculated standard deviation. The operator may select the optimum counting time, the trip level in numbers of standard deviations above the average background, the background updating mode, and the method of alarm annunciation. Alarms may be indicated locally by panel indication and/or audible tone, or remotely via a VHF FM transmitter with a maximum range of 1.6-km line-of-sight to a suitable receiver. Count rate may be read on a top panel meter or recorded on a chart recorder. A single frame camera may be attached to provide a photographic record. Battery lifetime is 100 to 300 hours, depending on alarm rate and use of the transmitter.