Our Equipment

RS-500 Airborne Gamma Ray Spectrometer

 

The RS-500 is the world's most advanced AIRBORNE gamma-ray spectrometer system utilizing state-of-the-art DSP/FPGA technology for previously unachievable levels of spectral data performance.

RSI has added very advanced technologies to the RS-500 systems to make it at the very leading-edge of this type of equipment and making obsolete all current available technologies by a significant factor. Yet it is designed to be easy to interface and virtually foolproof to use making the RS-500 system the clear technological leader in this sophisticated field.

 

UNIQUE FEATURES

  • State-of-the-art design using FPGA/DSP technology
  • Each xtal output is fully LINEARIZED permitting multi-xtal summing with no distortion
  • NO requirement for radioactive sources for system setup
  • NO requirement for radioactive sources for system validation
  • UNLIMITED number of xtal summing
  • >20x improvement on signal throughput compared to older systems
  • Fully automatic gain stabilization on Natural Isotopes world wide
  • Each xtal pack operates independently
  • System readily integrates into users data systems
  • Individual xtal data storage with NO increase in data volume
  • Post-flight analysis techniques effectively eliminate re-flies for data problems

• Easy to integrate system with very straightforward User interfaces

 

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Spectrometer

Channels

1024

Differential non-linearity

<0.2% over top 99.5%

Integral non-linearity

<0.01% over top 99.5%

Zero dead time

YES (*)

Baseline restoration

Digital (IPBR) (**)

Pulse shaping

Digital (AOPS) (***)

Pile-up rejection

Digital (<40nS)

Pile-up contamination

<0.1% @ 250kcps

DPU (Detector Processing Unit)

I/O

Ethernet

Sample rate0.1-10 per sec

Timing

Internal/External

Gain stabilization

Automatic multi-peak

State of health

All critical parameters

Detector

RSX-1

1 x 4L NaI (Tl)

RSX-2

2 x 4L NaI (Tl)

RSX-4

4 x 4L NaI (Tl)

RSX-5

4+1 x 4L NaI (Tl)

Energy resolution

<8.5%(****)

 

Output

Composite spectrum

YES

Individual spectra

YES

State of health

YES

 

Inputs

Detector configuration

YES

Operational parameters

YES

Trigger signal

YES

Calibration data

YES

 

 

Notes
(*) The RS-400 has no dead time in a traditional sense. A live time clock will be adjusted for loss of system measured pile-up rejections to give an apparent dead time to ensure the absolute count rate is correct.
(**) IPBR - Individual Pulse Baseline Restoration. The baseline is established for each individual pulse for maximum pulse height accuracy.
(***) AOPS - Automatic Optimized Pulse Shaping. Pulses are continuously analyzed and the signal pulse shaping adjusted for optimum performance.
(****) Stated energy resolution is for new systems. Refurbished system performance depends on quality of Xtals supplied.

 

USER BENEFITS of the RS500 SYSTEM
1. NO TEST SOURCES needed for SYSTEM STARTUP STABILIZATION
In the past most users had Cesium sources for in field start-up stabilization but with the ever increasing difficulty of radioactive source shipments, a better solution is needed. The RS500 system uses MULTIPLE-PEAK Gain Stabilization on natural isotopes. In ALL locations on the earth's surface there are varying amounts of K, U and Th in the rocks/soils. The RS500 uses very advanced algorithms to utilize these spectral signatures to achieve fast high quality stabilization for system startup. The system uses statistical techniques to verify correct stabilization by computing spectral Quality-of-Fit to automatically advice users when the system is ready to go. Data tests shows that GOOD fit could be achieved in typically 20 seconds under normal low background conditions (30 Gy/h) and a VERY-HIGH quality fit within a few minutes under essentially any geological conditions.

2. NO TEST SOURCES needed for SYSTEM IN-FLIGHT OPERATION
The same analysis algorithms described above are also used for in-flight stabilization. The use of MULTIPLE-PEAKS for Gain Stabilization ensures highest confidence and quality performance under any local geological conditions

3. NO TEST SOURCES needed to VERIFY SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
A common requirement in geophysical Surveys is the need to carry out GROUND CHECKS using Uranium and Thorium sources to prove that system performance is being maintained. These sources are also very problematic for legal transportation. The RS500 implements a special feature that has "perfect" spectra in memory for the Potassium, Uranium and Thorium spectra that are geologically prevalent. Prior to flight, as the system performs it's automatic pre-flight stabilization described in item (1) above - at the automatic end of this test the accumulated spectra are fitted to the "perfect" spectra in memory and a Quality-of-Fit for K, U and Th is determined. These data are used to PROVE that system performance is within the required ranges. RSI will develop a peer-reviewed paper to explain this technological advance that can be used to satisfy local in-field Customer Quality control requirements

4 SPECTRAL DATA STORAGE
The RS500 can be sampled at any setting between 0.1sec/sample and 10 sec/sample but in normal Geophysical applications a 1 sec data rate is normally recommended however very low ground spacing users may operate at a higher rate. A typical system operates with 9 xtals (8 DOWN and 1 UP). The RS500 uses advanced data compression methods to compress data typically by 10x. For this reason RSI recommend that the RAW data from ALL xtals are recorded in the data system. A 9 xtal system operated at 1/sec would generate fully compressed 1024 channel spectral data for ALL xtals of typically 7MB/HOUR a relatively trivial data storage requirement for today's data systems (note that currently at 1 sec data - recording UP and DOWN uncompressed data = 14MB/HOUR!).

5. SPECTRAL DATA VALIDATION
The huge advantage of ALL SPECTRA data storage is that RSI can provide the user with a Utility program that reads all the COMPRESSED data stored, analyses ALL individual spectra for Quality-of-Fit and provides the user with this result for QC control. If ALL spectra are OK the Utility then sums them to provide the UNCOMPRESSED spectra for summed DOWN and UP xtals for user data analysis.

6. SPECTRAL DATA RECOVERY
In the event that the analysis process shows serious data errors on any of the spectra, RSI can provide data tools and services to remove the problem data PRIOR to summing to avoid data contamination. In many cases RSI can also help the users resample the BAD data to correct it and permit the majority of the bad data to be reused.

These 2 features (5+6) means that re-flies for bad data quality should be almost eliminated

 

 

G-823

Airborne Cesium Sensor and Internal CM-201 Counter Module

 

This  new G-823A model includes the well proven high performance  G-823A sensor with the small  size CM-201 Larmor counter. It provides unmatched versatility of performance, size,  function, and cost effectiveness.

In  addition to the magnetometer measurement, the CM-201 counter also includes Julian / Time /  Date, a provision to accept an external sync pulse and six A/D converters for digitizing  and recording amplitude, radar / barometric altimeter, EM or other analog data.

 

 

      

The  system's high performance and multifunction capability are excellent for  mapping geologic  structure, for mining, oil and gas exploration and the detection of buried drums for  environmental surveys. Custom cable lengths and special packaging are available for each  of these applications.

Once a new system has completed all phases of run-in and testing, reliability is very  high. The specialized Cesium components are stable and not subject to limited life or  early failure.  Even after years of operation, full conformance with original stringent  specifications can be expected.                                                                                            

 

   Features:                         

 

  •             Airborne and vehicle applications with multi-sensor array capability
  • High sensitivity
  • Versatility - CM-201 counter includes 6 channel 12 bit A/D converters for digitization  of altimeter or other analog signals, digital data stream concatenation
  • Superior resolution of the Cesium Larmor signal with the earth's field tracking rates  exceeding thousands of nT (Y) over 0.1 second periods
  • Gradiometer arrays offering simultaneous operation of up to six separate sensors using  the designed-in concatenation of the CM-201 internal mini-counter