In this conference paper, PHDS authors Ethan Hull and Matthew Kiser describe how compact high-resolution gamma-ray imagers change radioactive threat response. Conventional search relies on moving a detector through the presumed vicinity of a source, which is slow and exposes personnel to dose and criticality hazards. Portable HPGe imagers instead give CBRNE teams a visual map of source locations, identities, and quantities from safe standoff, with on-screen results and reachback. The paper draws on live CBRNE exercises that revealed multiple-source configurations and quantitative information not accessible by counting-rate search alone.
