ACM TechNews

Cell Phone Sensors Detect Radiation to Thwart Nuclear Terrorism

Purdue University News (01/22/08) Venere, Emil; Gardner, Elizabeth K.

Purdue University researchers and the state of Indiana are developing a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to prevent terrorist attacks with "dirty bombs" and nuclear weapons. The system could cover the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors capable of detecting even small residues of radioactive material, and because cell phones are already equipped with global positioning locators, the network could serve as a tracking system, says Purdue physics professor Ephraim Fishbach. "It is the ubiquitous nature of cell phones and other portable electronic devices that give this system its power," Fishbach says. "It's meant to be small, cheap, and eventually built into laptops, personal digital assistants, and cell phones." The system was developed by Andre Longman, a consulting instrumentation scientist, who also developed the software for the system and worked with Purdue researchers to integrate the software and radiation detectors into cell phones. The tiny radiation sensors are commercially available, would not require additional circuitry, and would not add significant bulk to portable electronic products, say researchers. "The likely targets of a potential terrorist attack would be big cities with concentrated populations, and a system like this would make it very difficult for someone to go undetected with a radiological dirty bomb in such an area," Longman says.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080122FischbachNuclear.html

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