Design and implementation of a radiation portal monitor Multi-Lane Simulator

Deploying radiation portal monitors (RPMs) at U.S. ports of entry requires an understanding of an RPM system´s performance at sites with a large number of RPMs. This paper describes an RPM Multi-Lane Simulator that has been designed and implemented to simulate vehicle traffic at these sites. The Simulator´s flexible architecture simulates vehicle traffic with its associated radiation profiles and emulates each RPM´s radiation sensor panels. The RPM vendor´s embedded control computer firmware and supervisory software are left unchanged, thereby enabling hardware-in-the-loop testing of RPM system performance in configurations that exceed what is experienced in the field. The Simulator has proven to be a valuable and cost effective performance testing tool used by both Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and U.S. Customs and Border Protection systems integration and testing staff.