Communications of the ACM
Portable Imaging System Provides Real-Time Inspection of Sealed Containers
Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers X-rayed a handheld calculator by using the MiniMAX camera, which could revolutionize the imaging of closed containers.
Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Tribogenics, the pioneer of innovative X-ray solutions, have partnered to create a unique, lightweight, compact, low-cost X-ray system that uses the MiniMAX camera to provide real-time inspection of sealed containers and facilities. The innovative technology was featured earlier this month at the International Atomic Energy Agency International Conference on Nuclear Security: Enhancing Global Efforts, in Vienna, Austria.
"Cost and portability are the major barriers to expanding the use of X-ray imaging," says Scott Watson of Los Alamos's Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation Division. "We designed MiniMAX to demonstrate that such a system will open up new applications in security inspection, field medicine, specimen radiography, and industrial inspection."
Los Alamos has developed MiniMAX (Miniature, Mobile, Agile, X-ray) as an alternative to the large, expensive, and fixed facilities presently required for security inspections using X-ray imaging. The complete MiniMAX portable radiography system weighs less than five pounds, compared to much larger and heavier systems currently available.
Los Alamos Physicists demonstrated MiniMAX using a conventional X-ray source, a radioisotopic source, and a prototype source from Tribogenics operating at 90 keV. The Los Alamos team used the Tribogenics source to produce an X-ray image of a handheld calculator.
"We were delighted when Los Alamos approached us to explore a partnership," says Carlos Camara, Chief Scientist at Tribogenics. "This is exactly the type of breakthrough, portable application we envision for our disruptive X-ray technology."
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