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Evaluation of a low-cost automatic counting system for nuclear track detectors
C F Wong1, H W Wong, P W Tsang
1School of Physics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine
|March 1, 1991
Summary
This study introduces a low-cost system for automatically counting microscopic track holes in plastic nuclear track detectors. The automated system utilizes image processing for accurate recognition and counting of these crucial detector features.
Area of Science:
- Nuclear Physics
- Materials Science
- Image Processing
Background:
- Plastic nuclear track detectors are used for particle detection.
- Accurate counting of microscopic track holes is essential for data analysis.
- Manual counting of track holes is time-consuming and prone to errors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a low-cost automatic counting system for microscopic track holes.
- To assess the system's performance on CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors.
- To identify the limitations of the automated counting system.
Main Methods:
- The system integrates an Olympus BH2 microscope with a Philips resistive gate sensor (RGS) board and a frame-grabber.
- Digital images (256 x 256 pixels, 128 grey levels) are acquired and processed by an IBM PC compatible.
- Image processing involves segmentation, speckle elimination, and removal of ill-formed track holes.
Main Results:
- The developed system successfully recognizes and counts microscopic track holes in plastic nuclear track detectors.
- The system demonstrates efficient image acquisition (approx. 20 ms per frame).
- Testing with CR-39 detectors provided sample images for evaluation.
Conclusions:
- The low-cost automatic counting system offers a viable alternative to manual counting.
- Further discussion on the system's limitations for track hole counting is provided.
- The system shows potential for improving efficiency in nuclear track detector analysis.