WO2016060542A1

WO2016060542A1 - Intelligent security scanning system for inspection of a moving vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2016060542A1
Application number: PCT/MY2015/000023
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chew Chui Goh; Chuan Lim-Chiok; Chu Leong Goh
Original assignee: Billion Prima Sendirian Berhad
Priority date: 2014-10-15
Filing date: 2015-04-24
Publication date: 2016-04-21
Also published as: MY157628A

Abstract

The automated scanning system (100) to scan vehicles comprises a vehicle detection and control system (102) for detecting a vehicle, an optical character recognition system (104) for capturing the vehicle registration information, a content imaging system (108) for X-ray emissions for imaging contents in the vehicle, a first and second control system (106, 110) for detecting a location and speed of the vehicle for the purpose of radiation safety control, a radiation monitoring system (112) for monitoring the radiation emitted on the contents in the vehicle and a machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114). The automated scanning system (100) allows various security level operation selection including full vehicle scan, full vehicle scan with shielding and vehicle scan without cabin scan. The automated scanning system (100) automatically detects short and long cabin vehicles and adjusts the scanning accordingly to prevent the scanning of the short or long cabin of vehicles.

Description

INTELLIGENT SECURITY SCANNING SYSTEM FOR INSPECTION OF A

MOVING VEHICLE

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to security scanning systems. More specifically, it relates to an intelligent scanning system for inspection of a moving vehicle. BACKGROUND

Scanning systems have generally been used to inspect the contents of trucks, rail cars, cargo containers, and other vessels of transport. These scanning systems are generally set up at airports, seaports, building entrances, border crossings, and other places where illegal items are likely to be found in transit. Scanning systems use X-ray or gamma ray for inspection and to ensure the accuracy of shipping manifests and the like. Existing scanning systems use powerful X-rays or gamma rays for scanning the contents of the trucks, rail cars or cargo containers driven into an imaging facility, where the driver exits the vehicle, and the X-ray scan or gamma ray scan is conducted at relatively high powers. This scanning process is time consuming, as the driver has to get out of the vehicle prior to the scanning area .

Scanning systems are also known in which the driver remains in the vehicle during the scan. Here, the driver drives through the X-ray system and the high energy X-ray beam is only turned on after the driver and the cab of the vehicle have passed through the inspection zone so that only the cargo is inspected. However, the aforementioned prior art inspection systems are disadvantageous in that the cab of the vehicle is not inspected at all, thus causing a serious security gap and a potential breach in security. Moreover, the scanning systems need to scan both large and smaller vehicles, wherein the smaller vehicles have a comparably smaller passenger section and the larger vehicles have big passenger cabins. Hence using existing scanning systems effective shielding of the passenger cabins is not possible. Some other scanning systems use X-rays or gamma rays for scanning, which is turned on during scanning of each vehicle. The X-rays or gamma ray generators of these scanning systems cannot be operated continuously because of high power requirement and heating issues. These scanning systems need complex cooling methods for continuous operation, which in turn affects the overall throughput of the scanning systems .

There exist automated scanning systems for imaging inspection of moving objects. These systems include detecting units configured to detect whether a moving object to be inspected moves into a passage or not. However, the detecting units is located in the passage and detects the moving object when a metal object is sensed and signals the associated components, which is in communication with the detecting unit, about the presence of the vehicle in the passage. Moreover, the detecting unit is not configured to detect the type of the vehicle moving into the passage and therefore cannot control the moving vehicle before entering the passageway. Hence there exists a need for an automated scanning system having at least one vehicle detection system located prior to the passageway that would detect the type of vehicle moving into the passage. Moreover the needed system would be able to control the moving vehicle based on its type before entering the passageway. Existing scanning systems employs a detecting unit configured to detect a part of the moving vehicle to be shielded and the scanning process is controlled when the vehicle metal part to be shielded is detected. However a more advanced and automated detection system would be needed to automatically detect the parts of the vehicle to be shielded based on the type and position of the vehicle. The needed automated detection system would be able to synchronize the operation of the whole scanning system based on the type, movement and behavior of the moving vehicle. Further, existing scanning systems employs sensors to inform the imaging unit about the presence of the vehicle to warm up the accelerator for shooting. Hence there exists a need for an automated scanning system that would be able to keep the imaging unit in an always-on mode. In addition, the needed system would be able to prepare the imaging unit for scanning without a warm up period.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention is to provide an improved scanning system allowing intelligent automatic control of the scanning process. Moreover, the needed system would be able to distinguish big and small vehicles for appropriate scanning. In addition, the needed system would be able to perform automated full vehicle scanning operation for higher security. Further, the needed system would be able to operate continuously without much heating. Moreover the needed automated scanning system would provide higher throughput at minimum power requirements. The needed automated scanning system would offer high security, reliability and robustness with multiple operating modes. Further, the needed automated scanning system would offer remote monitoring, diagnosis of the scanning system, vehicle identification and radiation monitoring. SUMMARY

The present invention is an intelligent automated scanning system for scanning contents, detecting radiation and identities of a moving object or a moving vehicle. The scanning is performed using an X-ray signal generated by a cyclone accelerator and an embedded controller controls the scanning process in real time. The automated scanning system includes a vehicle detection and control system for detecting and controlling a moving vehicle by detecting a position and external dimensions of the moving vehicle. The vehicle detection and control system is positioned prior to an incoming passageway of the automated scanning system for detecting the presence of the moving vehicle towards the automated scanning system. The embedded controller controls multiple components of the automated scanning system by processing input signals received from sensors of the automated scanning system. A pair of dimensional sensors determines the shape and size of the vehicle by measuring the height of incoming vehicle. The pair of dimensional sensors includes a pair of over height sensors for determining a height of the vehicle and a pair of vehicle differential sensors for determining a width of the vehicle. Thus vehicles having big and small cabins can be identified and the scanning mode can be automatically determined accordingly in the scanning process. An optical character recognition system automatically detects the vehicle registration information while the vehicle is passing through the intelligent automated scanning system. The user can select a type of scanning mode such as a full scanning of the vehicle including the cabin or scanning of the vehicle without the cabin and scanning of the vehicle with shielding etc. Based on the type of scanning selected, the embedded controller will trigger the cyclone accelerator to generate X-ray for imaging contents in the moving vehicle and contents in the object loaded on to the vehicle. The automated scanning system provides improved radiation safety control by providing multiple time-distance controls using the sensors for accurately detecting the location of the moving vehicle. The cyclone accelerator for generating X-ray is always kept in a ready state, which consumes less power to achieve the high speeds and the heat generated is minimum, thus allowing it to operate in standby mode for a long period. The automated scanning system includes at least two sensors at each sensing point of the sub systems to enhance and ensure operating continuity of the system. The automated scanning system allows remote system monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance by using human machine interface (HMI) means including a touchscreen display, which receives information from the sensors such as the location sensors and displays the real time scanning status. The automated scanning system of the present invention offers high reliability due to the presence of a pair of sensors in each sensing station and provides feedback. to the embedded controller at the real time. If any of the sensors fails or malfunctions, the other sensor will continue working without causing interruptions to the scanning operation and the HMI will display a faulty signal to trigger for maintenance. The scanning system can further detect temperature and humidity and can trigger alarm whenever the system detects abnormal conditions. In addition, the scanning system offers remote monitoring and diagnosis of the scanning system and monitoring of radiation level on the objects in the vehicle.

Other objects and advantages of the embodimen s herein will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings .

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of an automated scanning system for inspection of a moving vehicle, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an operation of a plurality of sub systems of the automated scanning system;

FIG. 3A-3D illustrates a flowchart showing steps for full scanning of the moving vehicle including a cabin of the moving vehicle without the presence of a shielding wall, using the automated scanning system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4A-4D illustrates a flowchart showing steps for full scanning of the moving vehicle including the cabin of the moving vehicle in presence of the shielding wall, using the automated scanning system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5A-5D illustrates a flowchart showing steps for scanning of the moving vehicle without the cabin of the moving vehicle by differentiating big and smaller size of the cabin, using the automated scanning system, according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, a reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which the specific embodiments that may be practiced is shown by way of illustration. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and it is to be understood that the logical, mechanical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention is an intelligent automated security scanning system for scanning a moving vehicle including at least one object loaded onto the moving vehicle using an X-ray signal generated by a using a cyclone accelerator. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of the automated scanning system (100) for inspection of the moving vehicle, according to a preferred embodiment of the disclosed invention. The automated scanning system (100) includes a vehicle detection and control system (102) for detecting and controlling a moving vehicle by detecting a position and an external size such as the height and width of the moving vehicle. The vehicle detection and control system (102) includes a pair of radars (116) for detecting the presence of the moving vehicle towards the automated scanning system (100). The pair of radars (116) for detecting presence of an incoming vehicle is positioned prior to an incoming passageway of the automated scanning system (100). The vehicle detection and control system (102) is located before the passage and an object is identified when it moves closer to a first barrier (120). The embedded controller automatically controls the first barrier (120) for passing the vehicle based on the information received from the vehicle detection and control system (102). The embedded controller also controls different sub systems and components of the automated scanning system (100). The vehicle detection and control system (102) limits a height of the vehicle including the carrying object such as the container by using an over height gantry beam (118) positioned at an entrance to the vehicle detection and control system (102). A start and stop signaling light (128) controlled by the automated scanning system (100) signals the vehicle entering the vehicle detection and control system (102) for scanning. The embedded controller used to control components of the automated scanning system (100) processes multiple input signals received from multiple sensors of the automated scanning system (100) . A pair of dimensional sensors (122) then scans the incoming vehicle for identifying height and width of the vehicle. The pair of dimensional sensors (122) includes a pair of over height sensors (124) for determining a height of the vehicle and a pair of vehicle differential sensors (126) for determining a width of the vehicle. The pair of vehicle differential sensors (126) will check whether the moving closer object or the incoming vehicle carrying the container to be scanned meets the size requirements such as the height and width to trigger open the first barrier (120) . The pair of dimensional sensors (122) creates an external detailing of the width and height of the vehicle.

In some instances, pair of dimensional sensors (122) detect the cabin dimension to trigger open the first barrier (120). The sensor values including the dimensional sensor (122) values will be sent to the embedded controller for processing, which controls the operations of the automated scanning system (100) including the automated operation of the vehicle detection and control system (102) . If the input signals send by the dimensional sensors (122) meets a predetermined size criteria for the vehicle, the embedded controller turns the start and stop signaling light (128) to GREEN, starting a new cycle of operation and triggers open the first barrier (120) to pass the vehicle into the passageway of the automated scanning system (100) . The feedback or the open or close status of the first barrier (120) is send to the embedded controller. The start and stop signaling light (128) is turned to RED after completely passing the vehicle through the first barrier (120).

Following the vehicle detection and control system (102) is an optical character recognition system (104) for detecting registration information about the moving vehicle and the object loaded onto the moving vehicle. The registration information includes the vehicle registration information and the object registration information or the container information. The optical character recognition system (104) includes at least one pair of optical character reader (OCR) cameras (130) for reading at least one container information displayed on at least one container carried by the moving vehicle. Further, the optical character recognition system (104) includes at least one rear chassis camera (132) with an optical character reader (OCR) camera (134) for identifying the registration information on the rear license plate and/or the chassis number of the moving vehicle. In addition, for reading a front license plate of the vehicle, the optical character recognition system (104) is equipped with at least one license plate reading (LPR) camera (136) and an OCR camera (138) . The status of each of these cameras is directly fed to the embedded controller for ensuring a proper working of the automated scanning system (100). Even if any single camera is not working, the controller may generate an alert and continue operation using the secondary camera for scanning the respective registration numbers. This improves the reliability of the automated scanning system (100) by minimizing the downtimes. The optical character recognition system (104) further includes a pair of loop sensors (140) for identifying an exact position of the moving vehicle. The data from the pair of loop sensors (140) will be fed to the embedded controller for identifying a real time position of the moving vehicle and hence to precisely control the automated scanning system (100). The optical character recognition system (104) is followed by a second barrier (142) automatically controlled by the embedded controller by processing the at least one input from the pair of over height sensors (124) and the pair of vehicle differential sensors (126) . If a vehicle exceeds the predetermined width or height by the system, the embedded controller will immediately trigger to close the second barrier (142) to block the vehicle from passing through the first control system (106). The second barrier (142) will close and act as a secondary system protection for abnormal condition and for oversized vehicle.

The first control system (106) positioned before the content imaging system (108) detects a location and speed of the moving vehicle and in some instances detects an emergency situation including a vehicle breakdown for the purpose of radiation safety control to the vehicle and the object. The first control system (106) includes at least three pairs of sensors S5, S6 and S7 (144, 146, 148) for detecting an exact position of the moving vehicle. The sensor inputs are fed to the embedded controller for processing and for determining a speed of the moving vehicle. The embedded controller configures the content imaging system (108) for proper detection, image sizing and resolution of the scanned images of the vehicle and the object loaded onto the vehicle. The automatic configuration of the content imaging system (108) by determining the speed of the vehicle enables automatic control of the radiation falling on the vehicle and the object. If the vehicle stops or the sensor detects a much slower speed for the vehicle, then it may trigger an alarm and a corresponding fault notification will be displayed on the HMI . The sensors denoted by S5, S6 and S7 (144, 146 and 148) detects a position of the vehicle and send the data to the embedded controller for calculating a speed of the vehicle. The sensors S5 (144) detect a starting point of the vehicle and S6 (146) detects an end of the vehicle to determine a speed of the vehicle and the sensor (148) detects a position of the cabin of the vehicle. The first control system (106) can detect a variety of emergency conditions including vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidentally damage of the system (100) by the vehicle by monitoring a speed and location of the moving vehicle using the sensors S5 and S6 (144, 146) and upon detecting such an emergency condition, it can signal to stop the cyclone accelerator (150) for the purpose of radiation safety control. The user can select any type of scanning such as a full scanning of the vehicle including the cabin, or scanning of the vehicle without the cabin and scanning of the vehicle with shielding etc. at the beginning of the scanning process. Based on the type of scanning selected the vehicle moving into the content imaging system (108) will be subjected to radiation from the cyclone accelerator (150), which generates X-ray emissions for imaging contents in the moving vehicle including contents in the object loaded on to the vehicle. A second control system (110) comprises location sensors S8 S9, and S10 for detecting a location and speed of a scanned vehicle and for detecting an emergency situation including a vehicle breakdown for the purpose of radiation safety control. When both the sensors S8 and S9 detects the position during passing of the vehicle, the data will be send to the embedded controller and the controller may signal to stop the X-ray radiation if abnormal condition detected. The position sensors (S7, S8 and S9) are utilized for activating the X-ray beam based on the vehicle size and security mode of operation. The content imaging system (108) consists of Cyclone X-ray accelerator for emitting radiation beam and detector modules to receive and transform electronic signal to generate image for viewing, without the need for further configurations. Thus the automated scanning system (100) includes a first set of sensors to detect arrival of the vehicle (radars and sensors SI to S5) and another set of sensors (S5 to S9 sensors) to detect the position of vehicle. All the sensor information is fed to the embedded controller in real time and thereby whole automated scanning system (100) is controlled in real-time by monitoring the vehicle's or the Object's "moving characteristics" rather than its "presence" to intelligently activate whole the system's (100) functionality.

The automated scanning system (100) further includes a radiation monitoring system (112) for monitoring the radiation emitted on the contents in the moving vehicle including contents in the object loaded onto the vehicle. The radiation monitoring system (112) includes a pair of sensors A7 and A8 to measure the amount of radiation emitted for the goods carried by the vehicle and activate alarm if radiation absorbed exceeds the limits specified. Finally the automated scanning system (100) includes a machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) for monitoring a completion of a scanning cycle. The machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) includes a pair of sensors Sll for detecting the location of the vehicle and when the vehicle passes the sensor Sll, the sensor Sll sends signal to the embedded controller to turn the start and stop signaling light (128) to green and the automated scanning system (100) triggers a new cycle of operation. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an operation of a plurality of sub systems of the automated scanning system (100). The embedded controller (152) controls the plurality of sub systems of the scanning system (100) including the vehicle detection and control system (102) for detecting a vehicle type and dimensions, optical character recognition system (104), which is only monitored by the embedded controller (152), the barrier system for controlling the vehicle speed and the first control system (106) for detecting and controlling a position and speed of the vehicle to be scanned. Further the embedded controller (152) controls and triggers the content imaging system (108) for scanning the contents of the vehicle. The vehicle is kept in constant motion while scanning and a position and speed of the moving vehicle after the scanning process is measured by the second control system (110) upon reception of a signal from the embedded controller (152). The embedded controller (152) further receives radiation level information from the vehicle radiation monitoring system (112). The operator can select the shielding option for preventing unwanted radiation from the X-ray source. The embedded controller (152) receives signals from the plurality of sensors regarding the location and speed of the vehicle to activate the shield for blocking the X-ray source. When the vehicle passes the sensor pair Sll, the machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) signals the embedded controller (152) to stop the current cycle of scanning and to initiate steps for a new scanning cycle.

The automated scanning system (100) offers different modes of scanning operation with various security levels for vehicles including full vehicle scan, scan avoiding short cabin and long cabin mode, vehicle scan with and without shielding modes etc. FIG . 3A— 3D illustrates a flow chart showing steps for full scanning of the moving vehicle including a cabin of the moving vehicle without the presence of a shielding wall, using the automated scanning system (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention. This mode provides an enhance security operation level to full scan the whole vehicle where the vehicle will be scanned from head to tail including the passenger portion. First the scanning mode may be selected as auto mode or semi-auto mode with vehicle scan with cabin option. Manual mode is performed for special scanning occasions that require manual intervention while scanning the vehicle. Now the scanning function mode may be selected as full scan without any shield for a high security-scanning mode. At this point the first barrier (120) is in a closed state with the start and stop signaling light (128) turned to green by the embedded controller. In an embodiment the embedded controller used is a multi input multi output CX5020 digital controller with a micro system control to precisely capture the movement and behavior of a moving vehicle, to ensure that the system's functions synchronize with vehicle position, and to detect faulty condition such as, vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidentally damage of system by vehicle. Now the pair of radars (116) detects the incoming vehicle and the information will be displayed on HMI . At this point the first barrier (120) will be kept open and the barrier up status will also be displayed on the HMI.

If the first barrier (120) is in a closed state, the status will be send to the embedded controller, which will trigger the alarm and the barrier closed status will be displayed on HMI. The user can reset the alarm and continue the operation of the system either by disabling the first barrier (120) or the second barrier (142) or both. In case the first barrier (120) is open, the status will be displayed on HMI and the pair dimensional sensors (122) including the pair of over height sensors Sl.l, SI .2 (124) and the pair of vehicle differential sensors S2.1, S2.2 (126) determines a width and height of the moving vehicle to trigger open a first barrier (120) . Based on the height and width of the vehicle, the type of vehicle will be identified by the embedded controller and the vehicle type will be displayed on the HMI. If the height of the vehicle is more than the prescribed limits, then the second barrier (142) will be closed, and an alarm signal will be generated and the status will be displayed on the HMI. A user can reset the alarm and the scanning mode can be changed to manual for scanning of the vehicle.

If the pair of location sensors S3.1, S3.2 positioned near the first barrier (120) detects that the vehicle is topped prior to the first barrier (120) or if the sensors detects the vehicle for a long period of time, then the alarm will be triggered and the status will be displayed on the HMI. If there is no alarm, then the vehicle will be crossing the first barrier (120) as in a normal mode of operation of the automated scanning system (100) . In this case the HMI will display the status of the vehicle and as soon as the vehicle passes the first barrier (120), the embedded controller will trigger to close the first barrier (120) and to turn the start and stop signaling light (128) to red.

When the vehicle enters the optical character recognition system (104), the location sensor pair S4.1 and S4.2 will send the current location of the vehicle to the embedded controller and the ^' location will be displayed on HMI. If the vehicle is either stopped or slow then the alarm will be triggered and the status will be displayed on the HMI. The user can reset the alarm and change the scanning mode to manual for continuing the process. The pair of optical character reader (OCR) cameras (130) snaps the container information displayed on at least one container carried by the moving vehicle. The rear chassis camera (132) with the optical character reader (OCR) camera (134) identifies the registration information on the rear license plate and/or the chassis number of the moving vehicle. Now the front license plate of the vehicle is captured by the license plate reading (LPR) camera (136) and the OCR camera (138). The pair of loops sensors A5 and A6 is used to obtain a position of the vehicle to capture a front and rear license plate information of the vehicle.

If the vehicle height is below the specified limits, then the second barrier (142) will be kept open and the vehicle passes through the second barrier (142) to reach the first control system (106) for controlling the vehicle speed and emergency control of the vehicle prior to entering the content imaging system (108) of the automated scanner system (100). When the vehicle enters the first control system (106), the location sensor pair S5.1 and S5.2 will send the current location of the vehicle to the embedded controller and the location will be displayed on HMI . If the vehicle is either stopped or slow then the alarm will be triggered and the status will be displayed on the HMI . The user can reset the alarm and change the scanning mode to manual for continuing the scanning process. The vehicle speed is calculated between the pair of sensors S5.1 and S5.2 i.e. the starting point A and S6.1 and S6.2 i.e. the starting point B. The corresponding vehicle positions will be displayed on the HMI and will be updated to the embedded controller .

The locations sensors S7.1 and S7.2 positioned close to sensors S6.1 and S6.2 is used for detecting a cabin of the vehicle and when the sensor S7.1 or S7.2 detects the cabin of the vehicle, the embedded controller will trigger signal to the cyclone accelerator (150) for start shooting X-ray from the content imaging system (108). According to the detected vehicle speed and time A i.e. time for travelling the vehicle near sensor S5 to sensor S6, the vehicle should pass sensor S7 to sensor S8 within Time B, which should be within time A. If Time B = time A+ 2seconds then the X-ray shooting will trigger to off and indicate an emergency condition. Here the shutter also shoots off and system will be tripped to manual and triggering the alarm. Also if the system set X-Ray default maximum time is 20s, for passing from S7 to S8, and if the time exceeds 20s, then alarm will trigger and a stop signal will be send to X-Ray too. X-Ray maximum time can be set on the HMI including the additional time for cabin pass. Thus instead of creating a passing signal, the present invention uses time control, i.e. by using the time distance sensors, to understand the behavior of the moving vehicle to trigger for subsequent system activities .

When both the sensors S8 and S9 senses the vehicle location, then the vehicle is identified to be passed the content imaging system (108). The second control system (110) includes the location sensor pair S10.1 and S10.2, which will send the current location of the vehicle to the embedded controller and the location will be displayed on HMI. If the vehicle is either stopped or slow then the alarm will be triggered and the status will be displayed on the HMI . The user can reset the alarm and change the scanning mode to manual for continuing the scanning process. Finally, the vehicle enters the machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) for monitoring a completion of a cycle and for triggering a new cycle of operation. The sensor Sll.l and S11.2 detects a location of the vehicle, which will send the current location of the vehicle to the embedded controller and the location will be displayed on HMI. When the vehicle passes the sensor Sll.l and S11.2, the start and stop signaling light (128) will be turned to green for a next cycle of operation of the automated scanning system (100) .

FIG. 4A-4D illustrates a flow chart showing steps for full scanning of the moving vehicle including the cabin of the moving vehicle in presence of the shielding wall, using the automated scanning system (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The procedure is similar to that explained for the full scan of the vehicle without shield, except the fact that the user should select the scanning function mode as full scan with shield prior to the scanning of the vehicle. Now the embedded controller will trigger the shield to turn on and to block the X-ray source. When the location sensor S4 at the optical character recognition system (104) detects the vehicle it will signal the embedded controller to turn on the shield block. The rest of the steps will be similar to as explained for FIG. 3C-3D, except that when the sensor S9 detects that the vehicle is passed the content imaging system (108), the embedded controls signal the X-Ray to stop and to swing the shield to block the X-Ray source. Thus the embedded controller will turn on the signal for the shield. Now the scanning will complete as explained above. For semi-auto mode of operation of the automated scanning system (100), the system (100) needs a signal to trigger, which can be given by either a switch or through a command from HMI . FIG. 5A-5D illustrates a flow chart showing steps for scanning of the moving vehicle without the cabin of the moving vehicle by differentiating big and smaller size of the cabin, using the automated scanning system (100), according to an embodiment of the present invention. The procedure is similar to that explained for the full scan of the vehicle without shield, except the fact that the user should select the scanning mode as vehicle scan by avoiding the passenger cabin. Under vehicle scan without cabin, the shield will remain at home position and the embedded controller will not give any signal to turn on the shield. From differential sensors S2.1 and S2.2, the type of vehicle can be identified and for small vehicles, the sensor S8 will detect the small vehicle and turn on X-Ray for scanning. After the vehicle passes the sensor S8, it will automatically turn off the X-Ray. If the detected vehicle is a truck, then the vehicle will be detected by sensor S9 and will turn on the X-ray for scanning the vehicle except the cabin and when the vehicle passes the sensor S9 the X-Ray will be signaled to turn off.

The automated scanning system (100) starts a new system cycle when the vehicle passes through the opening of the first barrier (120) of the automated scanning system (100). The cyclone accelerator for generating X-ray is always in "Ready mode" to shoot as long as scanning system (100) is in automatic mode. Moreover the cyclone accelerator will consume must less power to achieve the high speeds and as a result, the heat generated is minimum allowing it to operate in always standby mode. The automated scanning system (100) includes at least two sensors at each of the systems for continued automatic operation of scanning of the vehicles. Further, the automated scanning system (100) provides improved radiation safety control by providing time-distance controls using the sensors for detecting the location of the moving vehicle. Also the automated scanning system (100) enables remote system monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance by using human machine interface (HMI) means including a touchscreen display, which receives information from the sensors including the location sensors. The scanning system (100) offers high throughput as it offers scanning of vehicle with speeds up to 20km/hour and 16 Ovehicle/hour . The scanning system (100) of the present invention offers high reliability due to the presence of a pair of sensors in each stations and providing feedback to the embedded controller in the same time. If any of the sensors fails or malfunctions, then the HMI will display it, without disturbing the scanning operation. The scanning system (100) can further detect temperature and humidity and can trigger alarm when system detects abnormal condition. An embodiment of the scanning system (100) offers telemetry control and monitoring of the scanning operation of the vehicle, in which the alarm notifications can be sending over wireless networks . The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .

Although the embodiments herein are described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art to practice the invention with modifications. However, all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the claims .

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An automated scanning system (100) for inspection of a moving vehicle comprising: a vehicle detection and control system (102) positioned prior to an incoming passageway of the automated scanning system (100) for detecting and controlling a movement of an incoming vehicle,

wherein the vehicle detection and control system (102) detects at least one information about an external size of the vehicle and thereafter sends the information to an embedded controller (152),

wherein the vehicle detection and control system (102) controls the movement of an incoming vehicle into the automated scanning system (100) based on a signal received from the embedded controller (152);

an optical character recognition system (104) in communication with the embedded controller (152) for capturing at least one information about the moving vehicle; a first control system (106) for capturing at least one information about a location and speed of the moving vehicle and at least one emergency condition to the moving vehicle or to the automated scanning system (100),

wherein the first control system (106) sends the at least one information to the embedded controller (152) for synchronizing an operation of the automated scanning system (100) with the location and speed of the moving vehicle;

a content imaging system (108) comprising a cyclone accelerator (150) triggered by the embedded controller (152) based on the location and speed of the moving vehicle for imaging a plurality of contents in the moving vehicle including a plurality of contents in the object loaded on to the moving vehicle, wherein the cyclone accelerator (150) of the content imaging system (108) is capable of producing real time X-ray emissions ;

a vehicle radiation monitoring system (112) in communication with the embedded controller (152) to detect a radiation emission level on the moving vehicle caused by the X-ray emissions from the content imaging system (108); and a machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) in communication with the embedded controller (152) for monitoring a completion of a scanning cycle for the moving vehicle and for triggering a new scanning cycle.

2. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the embedded controller (152) receives a plurality of information from a plurality of sub systems and selectively controls each of the plurality of sub systems for effective scanning of the incoming vehicle.

3. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the vehicle detection and control system (102) includes a pair of radars (116) positioned prior to an incoming passageway of the automated scanning system (100) for detecting presence of an incoming vehicle.

4. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the vehicle detection and control system (102) includes a pair of dimensional sensors (122) for detecting an external size of the vehicle and the object loaded onto the vehicle.

5. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 4 wherein the pair of dimensional sensors (122) includes a pair of over height sensors (124) and a pair of vehicle differential sensors ( 126 ) , wherein the pair of over height sensors (124) and the pair of vehicle differential sensors (126) determines a width and height of the moving vehicle to control the opening and closing of a first barrier (120) .

6. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the optical character recognition system (104) includes at least one pair of optical character reader (OCR) cameras (130) for reading at least one container information on at least one container carried by the moving vehicle.

7. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the optical character recognition system (104) includes at least one rear chassis camera (132) and an OCR camera (134) for identifying the registration information on the rear license plate and the chassis number of the moving vehicle.

8. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the optical character recognition system (104) includes at least one license plate reading (LPR) camera (136) and an OCR camera (138) for reading a front license plate information of the moving vehicle.

9. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the optical character recognition system (104) includes a pair of loop sensors (140) for identifying an exact position of the moving vehicle.

10. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the optical character recognition system (104) is followed by a second barrier (142) automatically controlled by the embedded controller by processing at least one input from the pair of over height sensors (124) and the pair of vehicle differential sensors (126).

11. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the first control system (106) includes a pair of sensors

(144, 146) for detecting a speed of the moving vehicle and a third sensor (148) for detecting a cabin position of the moving vehicle based on a location information of the moving vehicle .

12. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the first control system (106) detects a plurality of emergency conditions including vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidental damage of the system (100) by the vehicle by monitoring a speed and location of the moving vehicle using the pair of sensors (144, 146),

wherein detecting the plurality of emergency conditions causes the embedded controller to trigger signals to stop the cyclone accelerator (150) for the purpose of radiation safety control .

13. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the content imaging system (108) scans the moving vehicle based on at least one selection by a user including vehicle full scan including a cabin without the shielding, vehicle scan in presence of a shielding and vehicle scan without the cabin .

14. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the content imaging system (108) is capable of scanning the vehicle by automatically detecting a long and a short passenger cabin by measuring a height of the vehicle using the pair of over height sensors (124) .

15. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein a second control system (110) is positioned adjacent to the content imaging system (108) for detecting a location and speed of the moving vehicle after scanning.

16. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 15 wherein the second control system (106) detects emergency condition including vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidentally damage of the system (100) by the vehicle by monitoring a speed and location of the scanned vehicle using a pair of sensors associated with the second control system (106),

wherein detecting the plurality of emergency conditions signals to stop the cyclone accelerator (150) for the purpose of radiation safety control.

17. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 further includes the vehicle radiation monitoring system (112) to detect radiation emitting from the scanned vehicle,

wherein detection of excessive radiation on the scanned vehicle by the vehicle radiation monitoring system (112) triggers an alarm for notifying the user.

18. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 wherein the machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) includes at least one sensor for detecting a location of the scanned vehicle to trigger a new cycle of operation.

19. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 includes at least two sensors at each, of the plurality of systems for continued automatic operation of scanning of the plurality of vehicles.

20. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 provides improved radiation safety control by providing a plurality of time-distance controls using the plurality of sensors for detecting the location of the moving vehicle.

21. The automated scanning system (100) of claim 1 enables remote system monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance by using a plurality of human machine interface (H I) means including a touchscreen display,

wherein the plurality of HMI means receives a plurality of information from the plurality of sensors including a plurality of location sensors.

22. A method of automatically inspecting a moving vehicle with an automated scanning system (100) comprising:

selecting at least one scanning mode from a group of available modes including automatic, semi automatic and manual mode;

selecting at least one mode for vehicle scan from a group of available modes including vehicle scan with cabin and vehicle scan without cabin;

selecting at least one scanning function mode from a group of available modes including full scan mode and full scan mode with shielding;

capturing at least one information about an external size and height of an incoming vehicle by a vehicle detection and control system (102) positioned prior to an incoming passageway of the automated scanning system (100), wherein the at least one information is send to an embedded controller (152) to trigger start the automated scanning system (100);

capturing at least one registration about the moving vehicle and an object loaded onto the vehicle by an optical character recognition system (104), the optical character recognition system (104) being in communication with the embedded controller (152);

capturing at least one information about a location and speed of the moving vehicle and at least one emergency condition including vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidental damage of the automated scanning system (100) by a first control system (106),

triggering a cyclone accelerator (150) associated with a content imaging system (108) by the embedded controller (152) based on the location and speed of the moving vehicle, wherein the cyclone accelerator (150) generates real time X-ray emissions for imaging a plurality of contents in the moving vehicle including a plurality of contents in the object loaded on to the moving vehicle;

wherein an operation of the content imaging system

(108) is controlled based on the location, speed and the type of the moving vehicle identified from a height of the vehicle measured by the vehicle detection and control system (102) ;

detecting at least one information about a position and any emergency condition of the moving vehicle by a second control system (106),

wherein the at least one information is end to the embedded controller (152) for controlling the operation of the automated scanning system (100) including the content imaging system. (108),

wherein the emergency condition includes vehicle breakdown, vehicle stop, abnormal low speed and accidentally damage of the system (100) by the vehicle determined by monitoring a speed and location of the scanned vehicle using a pair of sensors associated with the second control system (106) ,

wherein detecting the plurality of emergency conditions signals to stop the cyclone accelerator (150) for the purpose of radiation safety control;

detecting a radiation emission level on the moving vehicle caused by the X-ray emissions from the content imaging system (108) by a vehicle radiation monitoring system (112) in communication with the embedded controller (152); and

monitoring a completion of a scanning cycle for the moving vehicle by a machine operation cycle completion tracking system (114) in communication with the embedded controller (152), wherein the embedded controller (152) triggers a new scanning cycle upon completion of the scanning of the moving vehicle.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the automated scanning system (100) automatically detects short and long cabin vehicles and adjusts the scanning accordingly to prevent the scanning of the short or long cabin of vehicles.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the embedded controller (152) signals to stop the X-ray emissions by the cyclone accelerator (150) when the moving vehicle passes a pair of location sensors associated with the second control system (106) to prevent exposure to radiation.