Speaker
Description
SoftWare for Optimization of Radiation Detectors (SWORD) is a CAD-like development tool and front end for several radiation transport codes. By default, SWORD ships with Geant4. SWORD also supports MCNP (radiation transport Monte Carlo developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory) and Denovo (deterministic discrete solver developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory), both of which must be obtained separately. SWORD also provides a library of prebuilt objects, including detectors, various crafts, and buildings as well as a library of common spectra. There is an ongoing effort to include more spacecraft and space-relevant objects in this library.
SWORD was designed to allow for easy use of these radiation transport codes without the extensive learning curve and to quickly make changes to the geometry. SWORD also allows the creation of complex sources including multiple distinct sources and sources that have several different spectra. SWORD also allows the construction of scenarios where objects can move and simulations can be run at various time intervals very easily. Work is currently being performed to improve integration with existing space weather software like AE9 and AP9 to improve SWORD usability for space applications. This would allow more detailed analysis to be conducted simply.
SWORD was developed with funding from the Department of Homeland Security/Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Office of Naval Research, but is available to the community at large. SWORD is available in the USA from the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and in Europe from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency. SWORD has been used for both dosimetry and background modeling for several space instruments, including the SoloHI instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter and a future gamma-ray burst instrument currently being developed.
This research was supported by the Chief of Naval Research.
