Full-spectrum modeling of mobile gamma-ray spectrometry systems in scattering media

Abstract: Mobile gamma-ray spectrometry (MGRS) systems are essential for localizing, identifying, and quantifying gamma-ray sources in complex environments. Full-spectrum template matching offers the highest accuracy and sensitivity for these tasks but is limited by the computational cost of generating the required spectral templates. Here, we present a generalized full-spectrum modeling framework for MGRS systems in scattering media, enabling near real-time template generation through dynamic, anisotropic instrument response functions (IRFs). Benchmarked against high-fidelity brute-force Monte Carlo simulations, our method yields a computational speedup by a factor $\mathcal{O}(10^7)$, while achieving comparable accuracy with median spectral deviations below 6%. The presented methodology is platform-agnostic and applicable across marine, terrestrial, and airborne domains, unlocking new capabilities for MGRS in a variety of applications, such as environmental monitoring, geophysical exploration, nuclear safeguards, and radiological emergency response.