CONOPS (Concept of Operations)

Some of the operational aspects depend upon the business rules in use at a particular site. A generalized operational concept is discussed here.
The EmptyView portals are setup on the outbound lanes of a terminal. There is a gate and driver-activated button on an extended arm in the appropriate position to be reached from a truck cab when stopped at the gate. When the driver presses the button, the gate lifts, allowing the driver to proceed. As the driver pulls away, the EmptyView portal records the gamma-ray scan and vehicle speed.
An additional capability currently in testing is trying to eliminate the need for the driver to stop at all. A drive-thru capability uses a suite of sensors to detect the end of the driver’s cab and the beginning of the cargo area. Sensing this gap allows the system toknow when to open the source shutter to begin recording data. An additional capability that required development was a fast-acting shutter, since the original design had a relatively long cycle time with large variance. This design is complete and undergoing life-cycle testing. The combination of end-of-cab sensors and a fast-acting shutter, with appropriate control software updates, means that a drive-thru system is now possible.
After automated data acquisition, the system software sends the image to the analysis algorithm. The algorithm determines a result of GREEN (=empty=truck may leave), YELLOW(=software uncertain, operator verify), or RED (=truck not empty, divert for inspection). If the result is green, the truck is allowed to exit with no additional interference. If yellow, the image is sent to the operator’s booth for analysis, where the operator may determine that the container is empty and the truck may exit, or that the container requires further inspection and sends the driver to an inspection area. Finally, a red output is automatically sent to the inspection area.