Tracking Nuclear Threats in Security Camera Networks (TNT-SCAN)

The implementation of continuous nuclear and radiological monitoring systems enabling the automatic detection and tracking of potential nuclear threats is traditionally associated with a high operational burden. Sensors typically have to be monitored by dedicated personnel, who must investigate detection events in a timely manner; however, high nuisance alarm rates can rapidly overwhelm already-taxed law enforcement personnel, while ambiguities in a signal's origin limits the reliability of actionable information, particularly in a cluttered urban environment with many moving objects.Charles River Analytics and Passport Systems propose to develop a system for Tracking Nuclear Threats in Security Camera Networks (TNT-SCAN), enabling continuous, real-time monitoring of radiological sources in complex urban environments. The system augments an existing network of video cameras with a distributed network of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) radiation detectors. A video processing subsystem detects and tracks objects in video streams provided by a third-party video management system (VMS) and passes track data to a radiation processing subsystem, which detects, localizes, and identifies threat sources. A graphical user interface provides security personnel with interactive threat reports, including historical track data, enabling efficient review, verification, and escalation of detection events. The proposed system builds off of multiple recent advances in video analytics and radiation detection technologies, including a multi-modal approach to monitoring that has been demonstrated in high-speed roadside environments. The envisioned end product represents a natural extension of existing product lines developed by our team, and is expected to appeal strongly to stakeholders of relevant security systems.