The FRAM code (Fixed-energy Response-function Analysis with Multiple efficiency) was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the gamma-ray spectrometry measurement of the isotopic composition of plutonium, uranium, and other actinides. It is capable of analyzing gamma ray peaks obtained with the germanium detectors in the energy range from 30 keV to greater than 1 MeV, including the X-ray region. It is very robust and can analyze spectra from good detectors as well as much degraded detectors. How much does the detector degradation affect the FRAM isotopic analysis performance at each different energy region? What are the worst resolutions of a detector (planar germanium or coaxial germanium) at various energy regions that FRAM can still analyze the data? What input rate is optimal for an isotopic gamma-ray system? How does the input rate affect the precision and the bias of a measurement? These questions and others will be answered.

Over the past several decades, applications permeated by advances in digital signal processing have undergone unprecedented growth in capabilities. The editors and authors of High Performance Embedded Computing Handbook: A Systems Perspective have been significant contributors to this field, and the principles and techniques presented in the handbook are reinforced by examples drawn from their work. The chapters cover system components found in today’s HPEC systems by addressing design trade-offs, implementation options, and techniques of the trade, then solidifying the concepts with specific HPEC system examples. This approach provides a more valuable learning tool, Because readers learn about these subject areas through factual implementation cases drawn from the contributing authors’ own experiences. Discussions include: Key subsystems and components Computational characteristics of high performance embedded algorithms and applications Front-end real-time processor technologies such as analog-to-digital conversion, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, and intellectual property–based design Programmable HPEC systems technology, including interconnection fabrics, parallel and distributed processing, performance metrics and software architecture, and automatic code parallelization and optimization Examples of complex HPEC systems representative of actual prototype developments Application examples, including radar, communications, electro-optical, and sonar applications The handbook is organized around a canonical framework that helps readers navigate through the chapters, and it concludes with a discussion of future trends in HPEC systems. The material is covered at a level suitable for practicing engineers and HPEC computational practitioners and is easily adaptable to their own implementation requirements.

In extracting information from aerial reconnaissance/sensor products, the image interpreter must often work with imagery of less than ideal quality. The Surveillance Systems research program of the Army Research Institute is designed to identify factors of photo quality that can help measure the interpretability of operational imagery. In the present experiment, image scale, atmospheric haze, and image motion were judged to be key factors in operational interpretability of imagery. Laboratory manipulation of representative operational images produced experimental images with controlled degradation of these three factors, separately and in combination. Image interpreters were asked to detect and identify military targets on this degraded imagery. Their scores were used to assess interpretability as a function of scale, haze, and image motion. In a parallel experiment, geometric shapes were positioned on background panels of black, white, and grey. Photographs of this array were degraded with respect to scale, haze, and image motion to the same levels as the first experimental imagery, and similar tests were conducted. (Modified author abstract).