Mobile imaging and Spectroscopic Threat Identification (MISTI): System overview

The Mobile Imaging and Spectroscopic Threat Identification (MISTI) system developed to locate radiological threats in urban and rural environments is currently undergoing characterization activities. MISTI is a mobile source detection and imaging system designed to identify and localize a radiological source to within +/- 10 m in range. This requirement is based on a 1 mCi Cs-137 source at 100 m in 20s, while maintaining a false alarm rate of less than one per day. MISTI utilizes the cost effective collection power of NaI for imaging and the sensitivity of high resolution HPGe for spectroscopy. MISTI´s data acquisition system was developed with the latest commercially availed hardware that met MISTI´s requirements. The performance of crucial software and hardware components is presented along with overall system performance. A synopsis and example of the initial characterization results are presented here.