Patent Application
20230204559
The present invention relates generally to the field of simulants, and more specifically to the field of simulants to serve as surrogates to hazardous threats and explosives for training and testing.
Simulants are needed for both training and testing explosive detection systems (EDSs) and advanced imaging technology (AIT) portals, as well as for training and testing security personnel. The simulants are used in place of live explosives in locations where live explosives cannot be used due to safety concerns. Simulants are manufactured to produce the same detector response as live threats, but as technology improves, more measurable properties may be needed for a given simulant to match a specific threat.
For example, simulants have been designed for X-ray imaging explosive detection system (EDS) platforms where only the explosive’s X-ray properties were matched, and only the averages of those properties. However, in recent years there has been a focus on developing simulants that better match the physical morphology of the threat. Characteristics such as flexibility, compressibility, and particle size have been studied in recent years with some success.
In an example embodiment, a simulant of a textured target threat includes a background material associated with a background attenuation; and a first texture component dispersed in the background material and associated with a first component attenuation and a first component characteristic. The first component characteristic prevents the first component attenuation of the first texture component from being homogeneously dispersed throughout the background attenuation of the background material, to cause the simulant to mimic a first aspect of an X-ray signature of the textured target threat.
In another example embodiment, a method of producing a simulant of a textured threat compound includes formulating a background material associated with a background attenuation; formulating a first texture component associated with a first component attenuation and a first component characteristic based on mechanically separating the first texture component according to the first component characteristic; and dispersing, in the background material, the first texture component. The first component characteristic enables dispersion of the first texture component in the background material of the simulant to mimic a first aspect of an X-ray signature of the textured target threat.
In yet another example embodiment, a method of producing a simulant of a textured threat compound includes quantitatively characterizing a threat texture of the textured threat compound; formulating a background material associated with a background attenuation; formulating a first texture component associated with a first component attenuation and a first component characteristic; dispersing, in the background material, the first texture component; quantitatively characterizing a simulant texture of the simulant; comparing the simulant texture to the threat texture; and iteratively adjusting the first texture component to cause the simulant texture to match the threat texture.
Other features and aspects will become apparent from the following detailed description, which taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrate, by way of example, the features in accordance with embodiments. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims attached hereto.
One or more example embodiments are described in detail with reference to the following drawings. These drawings are provided to facilitate understanding and should not be read as limiting the breadth, scope, or applicability of the embodiments. For purposes of clarity and ease of illustration, these drawings are not necessarily made to scale.
These drawings are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form(s) disclosed. It should be understood that the present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration, and that the invention is limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
Simulants are inert materials designed to match the desired properties of an associated threat or explosive. They are developed by using one or more inert ingredients that, when combined, exhibit desired properties as the target. The properties being matched are dependent on the simulant’s use case. For example, if the simulant requirements were for an innocuous white powder to visually represent an organic explosive powder, then powdered sugar could be used. Alternatively, if a simulant were needed for use in an x-ray baggage explosive detection system (EDS), then the simulant would need to match attenuation properties used by the EDS, such as electron density (pe) and effective atomic number.
Example embodiments described herein relate to developing and manufacturing explosive simulants having textured components. The simulants can be used as surrogates to explosive threats for training and testing on explosive detection systems (EDS) and advanced imaging technology (AIT) portals. Designing simulants can involve matching intrinsic properties of a threat as detected by a given technology. For X-ray EDS, these properties include mass density (p), effective atomic number (Z-effective), and electron density, which is highly correlated to computed tomography (CT) number.
Electron density (pe) is the number of electrons per unit volume and can be derived from its mass density (p) as shown in Equation 1, where Ai is the atomic mass, Zi is the atomic number for element I, and p is mass (m) divided by volume (v):
Because of the correlation between ρe and ρ, ρ can be used as a quick approximation when developing a simulant. Depending on the physical property of the ingredients, density may be easily predicted prior to manufacturing and testing. This is typically the case with liquids because volumes are conserved. In instances where volumes are not conserved, such as powders, packing models can be used. Packing models help predict a powder’s settled density based on several measurable properties such as particle size, shape, flow rate, packability, and density. Following some initial prototyping, a p accurate simulant is achievable. Once the p matches, then the pe can be compared and the formulation adjusted if needed.
The effective atomic number can be calculated by taking the fractional proportion of the electron contribution from each atom in a mixture and multiplying that by the atomic number of the atom. Equation 2 provides the Zeff calculation with ai being the fraction of the total number of electrons associated with each element and Zi being the atomic number of each element.
Using equation 2 with a fixed p exponent of 2.94, it is possible to calculate the Zeff of water (H2O). Water is made up of two hydrogen atoms (Z=1) and one oxygen atom (Z=8), the total number of electrons is 1+1+8 = 10, so the fraction of electrons for the two hydrogens is (2/10) and for the one oxygen is (8/10). The resulting Zeff of water is 7.43.
Values for p such as the fixed 2.94 value used as the exponent in the example equation 2, were typically determined by measuring the Zeff of a known material on an EDS and determining the value that worked best to match the experimental value. This ensured the theoretical Zeff value would be the same as the experimental value. While this method ensures that a specific material’s Zeff matches, it does not guarantee matching Zeff values for other materials whose absorption properties are different. Changing the exponent for each material and test configuration is one alternative, but there is no single value that will work in all cases. An alternate approach to calculating the effective atomic number of a material was developed by Smith et. al. This calculation, referred to as Ze, tailors the effective atomic number to the spectral range of interest (10 to 500 keV) and removes the fixed exponent value. First, a material’s energy-dependent scattering cross-section is calculated from a standard set of x-ray absorption tables. Then the material’s Ze value is estimated by finding the interpolated cross-section between two adjacent pure elements that most closely reproduces the cross-section of the material. The calculation was coded into a program called ZeCalc and was licensed to the Department of Homeland Security. While the Ze calculation is considered a more accurate method, Zeff can still be used to derive a close approximation.
Using ZeCalc, or the above Zeff equation, along with a material’s elemental composition and measured density, the x-ray properties of inert material can be determined and pooled together to form an ingredient library. Using numerical optimization techniques, simulant formulations can then be determined so that the properties of a combined formulation match the desired target properties. If available for use, the formulation can be manufactured and evaluated on an EDS. If needed, the formulation can be repeatedly adjusted and tested until the desired outcome is achieved.
An x-ray accurate simulant will have similar computed tomography (CT) pixel values as the targeted threat because the pixel intensity is being driven by the density and Ze of the material. However, the lower-resolution x-ray properties being generated can characterize the material as a whole, and do not provide insight into any irregular or anomalous components (e.g., clumps, crystals, prills) within the material. These components, commonly referred to as texture, can be discerned by viewing the simulant via CT EDS. Texture components can be visible because their attenuation properties differ from the base material or each other, due to different densities or Ze values.
As EDS technology advances, higher spatial resolution images are being acquired, which provides the opportunity for performing a more rigorous characterization of the threat. The outcome of the analysis is that the texture of the threat as revealed in X-ray images can be quantitatively characterized, resulting in an additional aspect of the threat that can be incorporated into the development of a simulant.
With advances in EDS imaging technology, EDS are achieving the ability to distinguish and potentially detect texture within objects. For example, explosive detection systems can have varying degrees of image resolution, and as technology advances the spatial resolution of these systems is improving. Higher resolution EDS may be capable of identifying and detecting inhomogeneous texture within a given image or object. Furthermore, because some homemade explosives are known to contain significant texture that is visible to the human eye in X-ray images, simulants with such texture are needed to adequately train security personnel.
Some explosive threats are heterogeneous and contain texture or other identifiable components within the base material. If a given threat is known to contain texture that can be identified on an EDS or other type of scanner, then that component can be quantitatively characterized and reproduced in the simulant. Depending on the image resolution of the EDS, the acquired images may be used to identify the texture components. Positive identification of the texture in a threat may result in increased explosive detection performance, or may potentially decrease false positives. At the very least, the identification of texture within an object could initiate an alarm resolution procedure resulting in the object going through additional analysis.
If a threat contains identifiable texture, then that characteristic should be reproduced in a simulant, otherwise the simulant doesn’t accurately portray the identifiable feature set of the threat. Failure to fully represent the threat’s characteristics in the simulant may result in detection failures by screeners or detection algorithms.
Example approaches can be used to measure, model, and reproduce the effects of a range of attenuating particles found in explosive threats that contribute to threat texture, e.g., by identifying and matching crystal or particle texture within the threat, and reproducing threat characteristics and/or textures that are spatially variant (e.g., non-homogeneously dispersed). Additionally, threat characteristics can be quantified based on average properties as measured by EDS or other type of scanner (such as a scanner to obtain micro-CT images), including average density, Z-effective, and X-ray attenuation properties. Example simulants also can be produced to match the threat morphology in terms of solid, semisolid, powder, or liquid. Thus, example approaches can characterize an explosive threat’s internal identifiable texture and expanding the explosive-simulant development approach to include and match the texture components. Simulant formulations can be produced that contain attenuating particles similar to the threat, as verified using an X-ray micro-CT system. The simulant’s texture component can be varied continuously such that the texture properties of the simulant spanned the range of texture properties measured from the threat material. Accordingly, a simulant developer or user can use the example approaches to combine different proportions of non-texture and texture components of the simulant to create a plurality of textures as needed to match a variety of threat(s) of interest.
Accordingly, the example approaches and embodiments described herein enable the development of a plurality of simulants that contain texture particles that can have a plurality of X-ray attenuation properties, using various methods described herein. The attenuation properties of the texture particles may be higher or lower than the background material, and the proportions may be varied continuously to match the texture properties of the threat.
Image texture can be portrayed as any feature within the image that is identifiably different from the background in the image. For example, air gaps within an object that are evident in an X-ray image is a form of texture. In addition, aggregates or crystals within a powdered material can result in image texture. Although there are many ways to calculate features derived from images that are defined as texture, the concept of texture is that there are irregularities within the sample with sufficient size and preponderance that it can be identified and used in explosive detection. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately identify and characterize texture within threat materials, and reproduce the same effect in a simulant.
A particular type of improvised threat was scanned for characterization, e.g., with a dual-energy microCT system (which can have much higher resolution than current and near-future EDS), providing excellent images for texture analysis. The reconstructed tomographic slices, such as the slice illustrated in
MicroCT texture analysis revealed that this particular threat material contained two distinct types of particles 220, 230, associated with significantly different attenuation, identified by the brightness of texture in the images. These first and second texture components 220, 230 can be referred to as “low” and “high” attenuation texture for convenience, but the attenuation was still higher than the background 210 in the images in both cases. Low attenuation texture particles 230 were only slightly brighter than the background 210 of the material, whereas the high attenuating particles 220 were much brighter than the background 210. Both low and high texture components 220, 230 are identified in
The three-dimensional image is helpful for characterizing and/or quantifying the contrast of texture particles, as well as other component characteristics such as the size, number, shape, and distribution of component particles in the samples to be used for producing simulants. Two dimensional image slices were stacked together and reconstructed into a 3-dimensional image. Background pixels were removed from the image using thresholding (e.g., by setting the threshold to remove those pixels with a pixel value less than the lowest value of any texture component), resulting in a 3D image of the texture particles, as illustrated in
Simulant texture can be developed by either selecting a material that has a higher density or Ze than the base material or manipulating the base material in such a way that its density is increased (e.g., compressing the powder into a clump or chunk). Analysis can then be conducted by adding the texture to the base material and evaluating the corresponding pixel information via a CT scan. This process becomes iterative in nature because the grayscale difference between the texture and base material cannot easily be linked to a specific density or Ze value. Additionally, the texture dopant can affect the sample’s overall attenuation properties if the texture’s properties are significantly greater than that of the base material or a significant amount of the texture component is being added.
General guidance on developing simulant texture can be deduced by having insight into what the anomalous component in the threat is and how it was formed. Components that are only slightly more visible than the background material in a CT scan (component A in
To develop the simulant 400 that accurately represented the threat, the base morphology, average X-ray properties, and texture of the threat 400, had to be reproduced. First, a formulation was developed matching the morphology and X-ray properties of the threat’s background 410. Table 1 provides the X-ray signature data for the threat and the simulant background material, detected using both the micro-CT and the commercial EDS. The difference between the simulant and threat was less than 3% for all features, serving as a confirmation of the validity of the formulated background material. As shown in Table 1 below, X-ray properties are shown, as derived from an example EDS system. CTN High and CTN Low represent high and low energy CT number from the EDS, respectively. Ze and Pe represent effective atomic number and electron density, respectively, derived from the EDS data.
Next, to create the high attenuation texture particles 420, a wax formulation was developed, melted, and cast into a solid block. The block was then broken apart, ground down, and sieved into various sizes of particles. A sample was prepared combining the background material 410 with the high attenuation particles 420 and scanned on the microCT for analysis.
In block 820 a first texture component associated with a first component attenuation and a first component characteristic is formulated based on mechanically separating the first texture component according to the first component characteristic. For example, the first texture component can be melted and cast, then broken up into various particle sizes, and separated into discrete size ranges by corresponding stages of sieves of varying mesh size, then combined in various proportions to achieve a desired size distribution. Other approaches include use specific techniques (sieve mesh shapes) for achieving particle shape distributions, or alternatives for casting the component ingredient before breaking it into particles (forming the ingredient into a sheet instead of a block, to achieve flake-shaped particles). For example, mechanical compression can be used to form granular texture, or to form a solid block that is then broken up in a manner similar to that used on a wax-based melt-cast block as described above. The texture component may or may not have a binder added. Such approaches can be different than a vacuum-based compression approach, in terms of how the compression is achieved.
In block 830, the first texture component is dispersed in the background material. For example, the texture component can be dispersed according to a component characteristic, to cause dispersion of the first texture component in the background material of the simulant to mimic a first aspect of an X-ray signature of the textured target threat, e.g., a variant/non-homogeneous distribution of the texture variations.
In block 920, a background material associated with a background attenuation is formulated. For example, a formulation is developed by matching a morphology property and an X-ray property of a background of the textured threat compound.
In block 930, a texture component(s) associated with component attenuation(s) and component characteristic(s) is formulated. For example, a wax formulation exhibiting the component attenuation can be developed to match a high-attenuation characteristic of a textured component of the textured threat compound; the wax formulation can be melted and cast into a solid block that is then mechanically separated into particles; and the particles can be sieved according to a plurality of particle size bins spanning a range of particle sizes of the high-attenuation characteristic of the textured component of the textured threat compound. In an alternate example, an aggregate formulation exhibiting component attenuation to match a low-attenuation characteristic of a textured component of the textured threat compound is developed; the aggregate formulation is fused by compression via vacuum suction fusion to achieve a semi-solid morphology of the aggregate formulation; the solid block is mechanically separated into particles; and the particles are sieved according to a plurality of particle size bins spanning a range of particle sizes of the low-attenuation characteristic of the second textured component of the textured threat compound.
In block 940, the texture component(s) is dispersed in the background material, e.g., by mixing, stirring, or otherwise mechanically combining the texture component(s) with the background material. A desired dispersion (e.g., a dispersion consistent with a target characteristic/distribution) can be accomplished by controlling an intensity and/or duration of the process of combining the ingredients.
In block 950, a simulant texture of the simulant is quantitatively characterized, e.g., using scanning and analytical analysis with an image processing algorithm or tool.
In block 960, the simulant texture is compared to the threat texture, e.g., by quantifying various characteristics of the simulant and threat, such as morphology, grayscale (micro-CT), CTN high, CTN low, Ze, Pe, or other characteristics that can include distributions or other characterizations of non-homogenous aspects
In block 970, the texture component(s) is iteratively adjusted to cause the simulant texture to match the threat texture. For example, a relative contribution by weight of a given texture component can be adjusted to vary its overall percent by weight of the resulting simulant compared to the background material(s) or other component(s). The distribution characteristics of a given texture component can be varied, e.g., by adjusting how the component is achieved by using different approaches to breaking into pieces, or sieving, or various other adjustments to the component. Furthermore, it is possible to adjust the duration or intensity of the mixing to vary the distribution characteristics of the component in the overall mixture producing the simulant.
While a number of example embodiments have been described, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of ways. The example embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of ways to make and use the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, as will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the teachings and disclosures herein can be combined or rearranged with other portions of this disclosure and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art.
Terms and phrases used in this document, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposed to closed—e.g., the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like; the term “example” is used to provide example instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or the like; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may be available or known now or at any time in the future. Furthermore, the presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to,” or other similar phrases, should not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases may be absent. Any headers used are for convenience and should not be taken as limiting or restricting. Additionally, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. Application Number 16/230,308 filed Dec. 21, 2018, entitled “Methodology for Developing Texture in Simulants,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/608,940 entitled “Methodology for Developing Texture in Simulants,” filed on Dec. 21, 2017, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The present invention was made by one or more employees of the United States Department of Homeland Security in the performance of official duties. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62608940 | Dec 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16230308 | Dec 2018 | US |
| Child | 18109055 | US |
