Use of higher order signal moments and a high speed digital sampling technique for neutron flux measurements

The second (conventional variance or Campbell signal), the third, and the modified fourth order central signal moments associated with the amplified and filtered currents from two electrodes of an ex-core neutron sensitive fission detector were measured versus the reactor power of the 1-MW TRIGA reactor in Mexico City. Two channels of a high-speed (400-MHz) multiplexing data sampler and an analog-to-digital converter with 12-b resolution and 1-Mword buffer memory were used. The data were further retrieved into a PC, and estimates for autocorrelation and cross-correlation moments up to the fifth order, coherence, skewness, excess, etc., quantities were calculated offline. Five-mode operation of the detector was achieved, including conventional counting rates and currents in agreement with theory and the authors' previous results with analog techniques.
The signals are proportional to the neutron flux and reactor power in some flux ranges. The suppression of background noise is improved and the lower limit of the measurement range is extended as the order of moment is increased, in agreement with theory.