Embedded System Design - Nuclear Radiation Detector

Aging nuclear power plants and weapons facilities have been refitted and decommissioned at an increasing rate in recent years. At the same time, environmental regulations regarding the decontamination process have become more stringent. This has created the need for thorough survey processes and advanced radiation detection equipment for locating and characterizing contaminants.

Improvements Needed

Our customer had already developed analog electronics coupled with their patented charged-gas detector. While functional, these electronics were much larger than optimal for a mobile system. They also had high power requirements, which limited operational time during surveys. What was required was a smaller, battery-friendly, modernized system based on digital electronics.

Substantial Engineering Challenge

The inherent engineering challenges were substantial - especially for a digital design. The sensitivity specifications for locating contaminants were extremely stringent. The smallest amount of electromagnetic noise could interfere with the exquisitely sensitive detector circuitry. Because the new design included a custom 2,000 Volt power supply to drive the charge detector, this requirement was all the more difficult.

Greater Business Opportunity

Despite the inherent engineering difficulties, the design effort was a great success. At conclusion, the new design included:

A new "set-top box" sized form factor as opposed to an enclosure the size of a large piece of luggage
High integration using cutting-edge DSP electronics and software
A complete assembly far more easily manufactured and tested than the previous design
A PC interface based on USB for capturing survey data
A .NET based software application for recording survey data and displaying detector readings
Much longer battery life to extend survey time
The elimination of an expensive stand-alone 2000 V power supply
Future expandability to support different detector embodiments for applications other than mobile survey

When completed, this design provided the customer not only with a superior survey platform, but also the potential to dramatically expand business into other areas simply inaccessible to the prior design.

Contact Tier One to learn how your project can benefit from our experience.

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