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.