IoT-compatible radiation dosimeter for real-time and on-site monitoring

Researchers at AIST has been developed a compact radiation dosimeter using power-saving wireless technology. It does not require battery replacement for two years or more.

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident, researchers in AIST developed a radiation dosimeter for residents that can record daily radiation doses without battery replacement for one year or more in 2012. This dosimeter has been commercialized and distributed to residents of municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, and is used for dose measurement by local residents. This dosimeter unit does not have a display that shows the dose, but it can measure and record the dose continuously 24 hours a day, and the dose log can be checked by communicating with a management device through optical or wireless communication. However, there was the issue that wireless communication had high power consumption, and the battery life was greatly reduced from one year for applications that monitored the radiation dose by regular wireless communication.

The newly developed dosimeter combines the low power consumption technology developed by AIST at the time in response to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident with the latest IoT (Internet of Things) technology. This enables to check the radiation dose transition over time directly on the dosimeter unit display or an information terminal such as a smartphone, with almost no concern about battery drain. In addition, the combination of dedicated wireless and optical communication systems capable of supporting 1,000 or more dosimeters enables efficient calibration to maintain accuracy, and analysis of monitoring data from a large number of dosimeters will contribute to the development of the effective measures for reducing radiation exposure.

The researchers will examine the newly developed radiation dosimeter to dose measurement in actual radiation work to verify the effectiveness and apply it to the other fields such as medical diagnosis, non-destructive testing, and cosmic space development.

Provided by Advanced Industrial Science and Technology