SEDS

Standoff Explosive Detection System
2/27/2015 Copyright © 2015 SEDS, LLC.
Standoff Explosives Detection
System [SEDS]
Detecting the Explosive Materials in IEDs from Standoff
Distances Using Thermal Neutron Activation Analysis
Deployable within 12 Months with Adequate Funding

Pushing Neutron Analysis “To the Limits of Physics”
• DETECT CASED OR UNCASED NITROGEN- OR CHLORINE-BASED
BULK MILITARY EXPLOSIVES OR HME, AND COPPER EFP LINERS.
• Up to 20 meters range [7 Kg Explosive Weight or more] in 10 seconds
• Buried up to 2 feet deep, or behind concrete or steel, or inside vehicles
• With high probability of detection and low false alarm rates
• At a reasonable acquisition and operating cost / manufacturing friendly
• With Blue Force Tracking and other C4ISR integration
• Without harm to operators or civilians
• Compatible with manned or robotic EOD and Route Clearance CONOPS
• Not fooled by clutter. Detects the actual explosive charge. Does not rely
on trace vapors, residue, wires, pressure plates, other emplacement
signatures.

• SEDS scans area of interest with a beam of slow [“thermal”]
neutrons that penetrate most substances.
• Nuclei of interest [nitrogen, chlorine, copper, and iron] emit
telltale, penetrating gamma rays.
• SEDS senses those gamma rays with a gamma ray telescope.
How SEDS
Works

Technology Characteristics
• Use a penetrating interrogation signal and return signal
– Interrogating signal -- Neutrons
– Return signal – High-energy gamma rays
• Neutrons produce unique gamma rays from nitrogen,
chlorine, and copper
• Use slow “thermal” neutrons with pulse-gating: Send out a
pulse of neutrons, gate the detector OFF until the neutrons
reach the search area, then gate it ON to receive ONLY the
gamma rays of interest. [This is NOT the same as gating fast
neutrons!]
• Scan the neutron beam side-to-side, permitting edge
detection of concentrated explosives
• Use angular resolution in the gamma detector to further
distinguish a concentrated threat from diffuse background.

Technology Requirements
• A LOT of neutrons – 1012 or more per second!
• A PULSED beam at ≥ 1 KHz Square Wave
• MODULATED neutron flux according to target distance
to avoid “blinding” the gamma ray detector due to
random summing, pulse pile-up, and detector dead time
• A PHYSICALLY BIG gamma ray detector – 0.7 to 1.0
square meters in area – because the gamma signal of
interest is small
• The gamma detector has ANGULAR resolution – without
collimation, which wastes signal.
• …and the manufacturing cost for the entire system has
to be well under $1 million each

How to Make a SEDS in 11 Steps
• Start with a high yield fusion neutron generator from Adelphi Technology.
• Add a control system to automatically adjust neutron baseline flux and pulse rate.
• Use a rotating neutron reticule to scan the neutron beam to detect the edges of
concentrated masses of explosives, without having to oscillate the fusion source back
and forth [US Patents 7,573,044, 8,080,808, 8,288,734].
• Use low-cost gamma ray detector material: organic Compton scintillators.
• Use the low-cost detector material to build a very inexpensive large-area, large-volume
Compton Telescope from arrays of mass-producible pixels, each with its own
photodiode array, to report gamma ray events in {X, Y, Energy, T} coordinate space
[US Patent 8,785,864].
• Add signal processing electronics to compute coincidence, energy, and angular
tracking information to distinguish signal gamma rays from background events. [US
Patents 8,357,910, 8,410,451]
• Add video image recognition to switch the neutrons off momentarily when a human is
about to be scanned.
• Add Bayesian detection and classification algorithms.
• Bundle it with a visual User Interface or Heads-Up Display, automatic device health
monitoring, and automatic alarming for significant threats.
• Build it using mass-producible, easily swapped, ruggedized LRU architecture.
• Finally, integrate it into relevant C4ISR architectures.

GOTCHAS
• Can you really detect the faint 11 mb 10.83 MeV 14N gamma line?
YES!
• Can you really do this with PLASTIC scintillators?
YES! H.H. Vo, et al (IEEE Trans Nucl Sci vol. 55, 2008) measured plastic scintillators with energy resolution 4% at 3
MeV, when calibrated with an array of photodetectors
• Can you really produce 1012 n/sec in a millisecond-pulsed source?
YES! J. Reijonen, et al, (App Rad & Isotopes vol 63, 2005)
10.83 MeV from 5
kg urea cylinder
buried in sand
Sand before
urea was
buried
Data from the
SEDS laboratory

SEDS Will Be Easy To Use!
SEDS Manned Vehicle Concept
Figure 1. SEDS conceptual diagram in possible
CONOPS.SEDS Robotic Vehicle Concept
SEDS Heads Up Display Concept, Various Situations

SEDS Background
• Thermal Neutron Activation Analysis (TNAA) has been known
and used at close range (30 cm ≈ 1 foot) for decades.
• SEDS has improved every technology associated with TNAA
• SEDS is the only currently proposed system to detect the actual
explosive material from distances greater than 10 meters, not
relying on vapors, trace contaminants, emplacement artifacts,
casing, or associated components.
• SEDS detects BULK explosives. By design, it cannot be
spoofed by trace vapors, residues, or buried junk.
• SEDS employs multiple patented techniques to extend TNAA to
the limits of the underlying physics.
• SEDS does not require scientific breakthroughs– the science
principles were published by 2008. SEDS uses new (now
patented) engineering designs, not new basic research.

SEDS PATENTS
• US 7,573,044 B2 Remote Detection Of Explosive Substances
GRANTED 8/11/09 - Priority 7/18/06
• US 8,080,808 Remote Detection Of Explosive Substances (CIP
7,573,044) GRANTED 12/20/2011
• US 8,288,734 Remote Detection Of Explosive Substances CIP
GRANTED 10/16/2012
• US 8,357,910 Background Signal Reduction In Neutron
Fluorescence… GRANTED 1/22/2013
• US 8,410,451 Neutron Fluorescence with Synchronized
Gamma Detector GRANTED 4/2/2013
• US 8,785,864 Low-Cost, Organic-Scintillator Compton Gamma
Ray Telescope GRANTED 6/22/2014

Summary
• SEDS is the only way to detect large explosives using neutrons at
greater than 10 meters range, reliably, quickly, robustly, safely,
affordably, and soon.
• Patented SEDS technologies are available only from SEDS.
• All other neutron detection concepts have limits constraining them
to unaffordably high prices, very long search times, or very short
distances.
• SEDS can be completed in 12 months.
• SEDS has been entirely privately funded over 5 years with $4
million.
• We are pleased to discuss any aspect of SEDS. Contact:
• Wayne B. Norris 805-962-7703 Norris.Wayne@SEDS-LLC.com or
• Dr. Ken Ricci, Ricci.Ken@SEDS-LLC.com

Appendix
•Four Challenges to Extending PGNAA beyond 2 meters
•Models of SEDS Gamma Ray Telescope
•Laboratory Data on Neutron Time-of-Flight Gating
•What Differentiates SEDS from Prior PGNAA Efforts?
•Photos of Facilities and Experiments in Progress

Four Challenges for >10 meter PGNAA
[SEDS Meets All of Them]1 - Weak signal:
• A 10 kg explosive at 10 meter range = 0.00003 fraction of total solid angle
• 10.83 MeV gamma production rate = 0.005 per thermal neutron entering explosives
• A 1.0 m2 gamma detector at 10 m range = 0.0008 fraction of total solid angle
Calculation: Signal ≈ 1x10-10 gammas per source neutron at 10 meter range
SEDS meets this challenge with high neutron flux and large detector area
2 - Pulse pile-up:
• A typical detector sees one million background gammas for every one 10.83
MeV gamma from a 10 kg explosive.
Random summing and dead time in the detector can swamp the signal of interest
SEDS meets this challenge with time-of-flight pulse gating and range-based flux
modulation [patents pending]

Four Challenges for >10 meter PGNAA
[SEDS Meets All of Them] [Continued]
3 - Air background:
• 10 kg explosive contains 2 to 4 kg 14N
Air contains 1 kg 14N per cubic meter
SEDS meets this challenge also with time-of-flight pulse gating [patent pending]
4 - Silicon-29 background:
10 kg explosive produces as many 10.83 MeV gammas as 250 kg of sand, rock, or
concrete (10.61 MeV gammas)
SEDS meets this challenge with azimuthal scanning [patented] and the use of a
gamma ray telescope with angular resolution [patent pending]

Models of Full-Scale SEDS Telescope
Excel spreadsheet cost models based on vendor quotes show that the components
cost for this Compton Telescope will be $200,000 to $900,000 per square meter
frontal area, depending on pixel performance.
MCNP photon transport models show that a Compton gamma telescope with 5 to 8
layers of plastic scintillator can identify and track 6% to 12% of incident gamma rays
at 10.83 MeV
Materials costs are inherently low.
Labor costs are also low because
the telescope will be built with
automated assembly techniques
standard in the electronics industry.
No one has ever seen a Compton
gamma-ray telescope this cheap!
We are building it now!
SEDS Pixels under
construction and test.

Laboratory Data: Time-of-Flight Gating
Time-of-flight (TOF) gating of a pulsed 108 neutron/sec source improved the
measured SNR by ~10x for a 5 kg explosive simulant (urea) at range 100
cm from an array of NaI detectors. This confirmed MCNP and Excel
models of the 1 meter geometry. Models predict ~100x improvement in
SNR at range 10 meters due to greater time-of-flight discrimination.
Lab data shows reduction in
background counts by 10x after
700 microseconds gate delay
TOF gating improved the SNR one order
of magnitude, doubling the detection
range achieved with four NaI scintillators
counts
MeV

What differentiates SEDS from prior PGNAA Efforts?
State-of-the-art PGNAA explosive detection CANNOT scale beyond
the current 30 cm-to-2 meter range without new ideas to (1) reduce
background counts and (2) increase detector size per cost.
The SEDS team has developed these new solutions:
• Large gamma detector / must have directional resolution (i.e. telescope)
• Low-cost, large-area Compton telescope design using mass-producible
organic scintillator pixels with optimized electronics
• Adelphi neutron source will go up to 1010 neutrons/second (D-D) or 1012
n/s (D-T), about 1000x times higher flux than other currently available
pulsed sources.
• Collimation of neutron source combined with imaging capability of the
detector will decrease air backshine and increase SNR
• Thermal neutron time-of-flight pulse gating reduces background
• Radiation health & safety issues have been addressed and resolved.

SEDS / Adelphi Facilities
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SEDS

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