ACTIVITY AREAS & TECHNOLOGIES
Main Areas
- Systems and Instruments for monitoring alpha, beta, gamma, neutron radiation in air and gases, water/liquids, soils or fixed materials, to protect workers and population.
- Radiological surveillance of territories (atmosphere, water bodies, buildings, etc.) and plants (site boundaries, indoor areas, plant elements, effluents, etc.).
- Applications concerning stand-alone operation as well as centralized systems and networks.
Proprietary Technologies
- Methods for wide range gamma monitoring
- Solid state, gas and scintillation detectors management
- Nuclear electronics for pulse shaping, counting and analysis
- Single-channel and Multi-channel techniques
- Air flow-rate measurement and regulation
- Radon/Thoron measurement and compensation
- Automatic movement/replacing techniques for circular and tape filters, cartridges and samples
- Automatic gas and water sampling/monitoring
- Isokinetic sampling from ducts/stacks
- Special shields and measurement chambers
- Dust measuring techniques for both radioactivity and mass
- SW simulated monitoring equipment and modelling
- Algorithms for alpha, beta and gamma monitoring
- Central Software and Data communication
- Web applications
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Some key components based on RTS technology are shortly described below
The SDA/DDA series of Radiation Probes are based on scintillation detectors, with or without a second different detector, developed and manufactured by RTS. This family is employed in several applications when the use of a stabilized NaI(Tl) is needed. These applications include the RADNET stations of the US EPA, the RIM series of Iodine Monitors, the optional Gamma head (GAM-01) for the RAM Aerosol Monitors, the RGM and RWM series of gas and water monitoring units, some SMU models of smart Gamma Monitors.
The MAB series includes Monitoring Processors with or without MCA functions developed and produced by RTS. The MAB-03 with integrated MCA is present in all the RTS products using silicon detectors, scintillation detectors, PIN diode detectors, etc.. This means in all Aerosol and Iodine Monitors, all Gas and Water Monitors, some Gamma Monitors. In the RADNET stations a Dual MAB Unit (DMU) is used with one unit for Alpha/Beta monitoring and the other for Gamma monitoring. The MAB-01/MAB-02 types, without MCA, are used in all the RTS Gamma dose-rate monitors. The MAB-05 is the filter management processor.
The LPU-02 is a Local Processing Unit belonging to the LPU/LCU series of local display and controlling units for radiation monitoring, developed and produced by RTS. The LPU-02 is the ‘core’ of the RADNET stations, of all RAM Aerosol Monitors, all RIM Iodine Monitors, all RGM and RWM Gas and Water Monitors. In almost all the other RTS Monitors components of this family (LPU-01, MiniLPU, LCU-05, LPU-05, etc.) are in any case employed.
The NFC Flow Controllers have been developed to ensure actively regulated constant or isokynetic air flow-rate for aerosol sampling in the environment or from ducts and stacks.
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Overview of RTS Proprietary Algorithms for Radioactive Aerosol Monitoring
The RTS algorithms for alpha/beta aerosol monitoring provide for the separation between long lived (or so-called ‘artificial’) and naturally (radon and thoron progenies) occurring radio-nuclides for both alpha and beta particles. Alpha energy degradation due to dust accumulation can also be taken into account for particular cases.
The methods actually used for alpha and beta aerosol monitoring are commonly based on ‘peak fitting’, ‘region-of-interests’ and ‘tail fitting’.
It is more than 10 years that RTS uses a combination of all three above mentioned methods included and linked in the RTS proprietary algorithms. The algorithms finally (on the instrument display) show the alpha-beta spectrum together with a 5-ROI (five regions of interest) configuration, but within the algorithms themselves a very accurate Radon/Thoron peak simulation (which is much more than a simple ‘peak fitting’) and a very reliable ‘tail fitting’ are performed and validated each other. Then both methods are used to validate the final 5-ROI calculation.
It is to be noted that a simple ‘peak fitting’ is not too much accurate in case the artificial counts are small numbers. Or when a very small quantity of artificial isotopes must be found in a not negligible Radon/Thoron background.
The RTS algorithms, in case of poor statistics, can work on counts only and, with respect to ‘one method only’ algorithms, are characterized by a more accurate response with less false alarm probability.
It is to be noted that the RTS algorithms for alpha and beta emitting aerosol monitoring have been validated and approved by ‘Third Parties’ and qualified users, including US DOE.