A Pulsed Fast Neutron Analysis (PFNA) object scanning-tunnel system for automatically
acquiring and linking object identity and attribute information about each object
transported therethrough while bearing a bar code symbol and/or graphical indicia
on the exterior surface thereof. The system comprises a scanning-tunnel housing
through which one or more objects can be transported. A planar light illumination
(PLIIM) based subsystem, is mounted within said scanning-tunnel housing, and includes
a pair of planar light illumination arrays (PLIAs) for producing a planar light
illumination beam (PLIB) for illuminating the exterior surface of each object.
A linear image formation and detection (IFD) module automatically forms and detects
digital linear images of the bar code symbol and/or graphical indicia thereon.
An image processing computer buffers and processes the digital linear images so
to construct a 2-D image of the bar code symbol and/or identifying graphical indicia
on the object, and then processes the 2-D image so as to read the bar code symbol
and/or identifying graphical indicia, and identify the object by producing object
identification information. A PFNA scanning subsystem mounted within the scanning-tunnel
housing, produces a neutron energy beam for scanning the interior and/or contents
of each object, and automatically produces PFNA images of the object's interior
and/or contents. An information linking computer subsystem automatically links
(i) PFNA images of the interior and/or contents of each transported object, with
(ii) object identification information, for storage within a relational database
management system (RDBMS) for subsequent access and retrieval. By virtue of the
present invention, object attribute information is automatically linked to object
identity information, and the resulting composite information set is stored in
a relational database management system (RDBMS) for subsequent retrieval and use
in diverse applications.
