Implementation and simulation of mobile sensor networks for nuclear radiation detection

From preventing the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation to monitoring the transportation of special nuclear materials, nuclear radiation detection plays an important role in national security applications. However, changing background radiation, shielding effects, and short collection time make radiation detection a challenging problem. Anomaly detection, source localization, and isotope identification are three major parts of radiation detection. The concept of mobile radiation sensor networks, which utilize multiple mobile radiation detectors, has been proposed to solve these problems. This work mainly focuses on developing and testing methodologies for anomaly detection and radioactive source localization using mobile sensor networks. A collection of techniques and analyses for radiation detection are presented and evaluated. More specifically, in this work, a mobile sensor network simulation system is first developed to simulate the scenario where multiple radiation detectors move around a city. Based on the simulated data, the performance characteristics of mobile sensor networks for radiation detection are studied and quantified. Next, focusing on geospatial modeling of radiation count data, Poisson kriging is proposed to estimate the background radiation level and perform anomalous source detection. The proposed method is validated using simulated source data injected in measured background radiation data and results indicate that the proposed algorithm can detect the anomalous radiation source with 90% accuracy under certain conditions. Additionally, source localization techniques based on maximum likelihood estimation are explored in detail. Simulation and experimental results show that source localization error can be reduced to be within 3 meters. Lastly, an exploratory study of spectrum-based anomaly detection techniques is presented. The performance of different machine learning techniques is evaluated and compared using simulated radiation data.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Zhao, Jifu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Uddin, Rizwan
• Abbaszadeh, Shiva
• Brunner, Robert J.
• Huff, Kathryn D.
• Sullivan, Clair J.

• Nuclear radiation detection
• Mobile sensor network
• Anomaly detection
• Source localization

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2019 Jifu Zhao

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105205

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105205