NKS-B ORPEX video files and spectra

The ORPEX materials are intended to simulate situations involving mobile measurements using gamma ray spectrometry such that users may get a taste of what is involved, obtain practice with data types typical for such measurements and hopefully get an introduction to the methods involved. More advanced users should find the materials interesting. The materials are not intended for users hoping to test new analysis methods, advanced analysis routines and so on.

The exercise is divided into three ‘Trips’.

Trip 1 is a short tour on a straight road along which have been placed two easily found and identifiable sources. The purpose of this trip is to check that everything is working, that users can work with the data and to familiarise themselves with how the next two trips will proceed. The route is only about 10 minutes long.

Trip 2 is a longer more complex tour through a mostly built up area. A number of less easily located and harder to locate/identify sources have been placed along the route to represent orphan sources or maliciously placed sources. The goal is to locate as many sources as possible and attempt to identify them such that a foot team can follow up later (not represented in this exercise).

Trip 3 is approximately the same route as that of Trip 2 (a little shorter), except that all orphan sources have been removed. An incident has occurred resulting in possible contamination of the area – the mobile team has been asked to identify areas of maximum fallout and determine a general picture of the deposition pattern.

The materials provided are designed so that users have a number of options and the most flexibility possible in analysing the data. The primary data type is the ‘playback file’. This is a file that can be opened in the custom playback software (GammaLog Playback) and is typical of the types of software provided by most manufacturers. More information and instructions can be found in the subsequent section. For each trip, all the individual spectra have been provided in 4 common formats and named according to their unique identifiers. Please do not mix up the spectra for Trip 2 and Trip 3 as they have the same number/names. This is so users can, if desired, open and analyse the individual spectra in the gamma analysis software they normally use. For each trip a video file is provided. This is a screen capture of the entire trip as seen on the playback software screen. This is for users who may for some reason not want to install the playback software. With this option of course, interaction is limited to the controls provided in whatever video software is being used and is obviously less than is available in the playback software. For each trip a Google Earth file is included. This represents each trip as a series of waypoints in typical Google Earth fashion and lets users ‘see’ where they were at any point of a trip. Hovering the mouse over any individual waypoint provides some information as to the measurement for that point (see later section). The waypoint numbers correspond to the unique spectrum identifiers. For each trip a spreadsheet is provided. This consists of all the measurements for each trip. The first column provides the unique identifier while the second and third columns are the latitude and longitude. The remaining columns contain channel data for each individual spectrum. This spreadsheet allows users to manipulate the data as they wish (e.g. sum spectra, subtract spectra or correct for background). A full list of technical considerations are provided in the ORPEX READ ME file under the section entitled ‘ORPEX TECHNICAL DETAILS’. The information in that section should provide answers to many of the most typical questions. Users are encouraged to read that section carefully.

Please note:

Neither the authors, organisers of ORPEX or the NKS are responsible for any damage, data loss or other inconvenience whatsoever caused by the use in any way, intended or otherwise, of the materials distributed as part of the ORPEX activity. The materials of the ORPEX activity were provided “as is” and were not intended for, nor should be used for quality control purposes, mission critical applications or for the purposes of satisfying the requirements of any third party organisation. The authors, organisers and NKS accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for damages incurred in any way through use of the ORPEX materials. Analytical solutions such as may presented are not intended to represent recommended, approved or “best” solutions but rather possible solutions using basic tools and the authors make no claim nor accept any responsibility for the correctness of any approach or damages incurred by their implementation. Any mention, either directly or indirectly, of software or commercial products within this document or associated works does not constitute an endorsement by the authors, their organisations or the NKS.

The provision of materials by the NKS related to the ORPEX activity does not infer any duty of obligation with respect to provision of support in relation to any of the materials.

Files for downloading:

READ ME file

Playback software

Playback files for Trip 1, 2 and 3

Video file for Trip 1

Video file for Trip 2

Video file for Trip 3

Energy calibration spectrum

Trip 1

Google Earth file

Spectra in Channel Tab text format

Spectra in CHN format