Maximum entropy signal detection method

1. A radiation detection system for detecting the presence of an elevated radiation signal against background noise, the system comprising:

at least one radiation detection device;

a signal processing device accepting input from the radiation detection device, the processing device for generating a signal in response to detection by the at least one radiation detection device of a signal-causing event, the processing device performing the processing steps comprising:

obtaining a sequence of constant interval measurements from the at least one radiation detection device;

obtaining average signal strengths by summing adjacent groupings of said constant interval measurements, from a small number of adjacent measurements in the group to a large number of measurements in the group;

analyzing each of said average signal strengths to determine if said elevated signal is present when compared to background noise; and

reporting the presence of said elevated signal.

2. The radiation detection system of claim 1 , the detection system further comprising a plurality of radiation detection devices, wherein the signal processing steps further comprise:

using measurements from each of the plurality of detection devices viewing a common radioactive object;

creating various combinations of different detection device measurements; and

creating a population sample of either all possible detection device summations or a subset of physically reasonable summations.

3. The radiation detection system of claim 1 , wherein the signal processing steps further comprise:

using a measurement of gamma energy from each of several different energy regions from a common radionuclide or radionuclide group within the detection device measurement;

creating various combinations of different energy regions within the detection device measurement;

creating a population of either all possible energy region summations or a subset of physically reasonable summations.

4. A computer software program tangibly embodied in a computer readable medium, the program including machine-readable instructions executable by a computer processor to perform a method for detecting the presence of an elevated radiation signal against background noise, the program steps comprising:

obtaining a sequence of constant interval measurements from at least one radiation detection device;

obtaining average signal strengths by summing adjacent groupings of said constant interval measurements, from a small number of adjacent measurements in the group to a large number of measurements in the group;

analyzing each of said average signal strengths to determine if said elevated signal is present when compared to background noise; and

reporting the presence of said elevated signal.

5. The computer software program of claim 4 , the program steps further comprising:

using measurements from a plurality of detection devices viewing a common radioactive object;

creating various combinations of different detection device measurements; and

creating a population sample of either all possible detection device summations or a subset of physically reasonable summations.

6. The computer software program of claim 4 , the program steps further comprising:

using a measurement of gamma energy from each of several different energy regions from a common radionuclide or radionuclide group within the detection device measurement;

creating various combinations of different energy regions within the detection device measurement; and

creating a population of either all possible energy region summations or a subset of physically reasonable summations.