Radioactive source positioning system

Abstract

A method of locating a golf ball is disclosed. The method includes providing a golf ball which includes a radiation source of a particular radiation type that is continuously emanating radiation, providing a radiation sensor capable of discerning and sensing the emanated radiation and providing an electronic signal corresponding to the sensed radiation indicative of radiation intensity, continuously mapping location of the radiation sensor by generating location coordinates, correlating the electronic signal to the location coordinates generating a correlation data, and determining location of the golf ball from the correlation data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of locating a golf ball, comprising:
 providing a golf ball which includes a radiation source of a particular radiation type that is continuously emanating radiation;   providing a radiation sensor capable of discerning and sensing the emanated radiation and providing an electronic signal corresponding to the sensed radiation indicative of radiation intensity;   continuously mapping location of the radiation sensor by generating location coordinates;   correlating the electronic signal to the location coordinates generating a correlation data; and   determining location of the golf ball from the correlation data.   
     
     
         2 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the discerning step is based on differentiating one of γ, α, β, neutron, and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing one or more additional radiation sensors capable of discerning and sensing the emanated radiation and providing a corresponding electronic signal corresponding to the sensed radiation indicative of radiation intensity, wherein locations of the one or more additional radiation sensors are mapped and correlated to further determine the location of the golf ball. 
     
     
         4 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor is a Geiger counter. 
     
     
         5 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor is a Scintillation counter. 
     
     
         6 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor is a Semiconductor sensor, 
     
     
         7 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor includes contains a global positioning sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor includes an accelerometer to provide position of the radiation sensor. 
     
     
         9 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the radiation sensor includes a global positioning sensor and an accelerometer. 
     
     
         10 . The radiation method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining step is computed by a position triangulation algorithm.