The Model RD-150 VMRDS is a modular, vehicle-mounted radiation detection system (VMRDS) designed for rapid deployment and seamless transfer between vehicles, enabling optimised detection geometry for freeway monitoring, choke points, parking lots, and covert surveillance missions. Its plug-and-play detector architecture delivers scalable, high-sensitivity mobile detection with local or remote system control, while operation is streamlined through PeakGO, the free smartphone application from Berkeley Nucleonics, which provides real-time isotope and isotope-class identification with colour-coded peaks, GPS tagging, photo and video reporting, pop-up isotope guidance, push-to-reachback, and optional integration with existing alarm, communications, and command-and-control systems.
System Hardware
At the core of the Model RD-150 is a high-performance MCA featuring DSP electronics and a high-voltage control system for an optimum dynamic range. The digital processor is supplemented with an analog anode output to enhance timing functionality. The processor is a 32-Bit RISC with excellent data acquisition and processing functionality. The entire electronic module is packaged in a shock-reducing enclosure. The photomultiplier tube and NaI detector are matched before final hermetic seal to ensure that efficiency is optimised.
System Firmware
The data processing and management is extremely efficient and leverages several proprietary processing and post-processing techniques. A unique Wavelet Transform gives users a strong confidence level on a wide range of isotopes without being limited to a peak search in a Region of Interest (ROI).
The concurrent background correction and background subtraction, two separate algorithm enhancements, give second-by-second analysis unprecedented confidence. These improvements are particularly useful with high-sensitivity (large volume) NaI and moving applications where background shifts are common.
System Software
In addition to powerful spectroscopic data analysis and reporting, the Model RD-150 with the included PeakGO app interface gives users features to address the larger situational needs. The full ANSI N42 report can be quickly examined, and then “Pushed” to a management team, reach-back office, or series of several incident support options. Users can easily suspend the data acquisition to take pictures and videos, thereby including situational inputs in the spectroscopic report. Additional software hosted in the user’s application gives real-time tutorials on an isotope-by-isotope basis to add credibility to the user’s disposition options. This focus on the larger application requirements differentiates PeakGO and BNC’s line of Nuclear Radiation Detection Instruments.
