Simplified simulation method for modelling illicit materials detection system based on EDXRD

Abstract

With the two fold aim of analyzing the energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) system for illicit materials detection and of selecting optimal configurations prior to experimental tests, a simulation method for modelling the response of EDXRD system has been proposed. The simulation is done based on two orthogonal planes of the system: the diffraction plane (H-Plane) and its vertical plane (V-Plane). Simulated results showed a very good agreement with Monte Carlo results and experimental data. The computational amount of the proposed method is much smaller than the simulation programs based on Monte Carlo method or other complete numerical simulation methods. According to the simulation results, the influence of the angular distributions of H-Plane and V-Plane on the diffraction spectra are different. The spectra resolution is less sensitive to the broadening of the collimator apertures in the V-Plane. This suggests that wider collimator apertures in the V-Plane can be used to increase the detection efficiency without much loss of the angular resolution.