{"id":1204,"date":"2016-06-09T20:55:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T20:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2016-06-29T16:08:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T16:08:53","slug":"cell-phone-photographs-radiation-warns-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/2016\/06\/09\/cell-phone-photographs-radiation-warns-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Cell phone photographs radiation, warns of danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steve Frandzel<\/em>
\n\"Cell<\/a>Sophia Uchiyama<\/strong> and her Expo team have designed a small, inexpensive radiation detector which will enable anyone with a smart phone to \u201cphotograph\u201d radiation and determine in a flash if they\u2019re being exposed to high levels of radiation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted something that\u2019s easy to understand for people who are not trained in nuclear science, and which literally presents a picture of the radiation around them,\u201d said Uchiyama, who will graduate next year with a degree in radiation physics after finishing coursework for a math minor.<\/p>\n

The detector could be used by first responders, for example, to determine if an area they\u2019re about to enter is safe or contaminated with dangerously high levels radiation.<\/p>\n

In its final form, the device will resemble a tiny pair of headphones that clip over the cellphone\u2019s camera lens. If the scintillation crystal inside detects radiation, it emits pulses of light, whose intensity is dependent on the strength of the incoming radiation. All you have to do is snap a picture, and the cellphone\u2019s camera creates a photo of the light flashes emitted by the scintillator. The resulting image resembles a night sky filled with stars, the brightness of which corresponds to radiation levels. Because that method might require interpretation, the team instead envisions a straightforward color-coded warning that flashes on the phone\u2019s screen and leaves no doubt about whether or not the surroundings are safe. The device would cost far less than conventional radiation detectors.<\/p>\n

Team member Nick Wehmann, who is receiving a degree in radiation health physics, added that during a reactor accident in the Idaho desert in the 60s, first responders rushed into a containment building after a fire alarm, only to find out too late that they\u2019d been exposed to an intense radiation field. \u201cOur device would give first responders important information whenever there\u2019s a source of high radiation,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could just pull out their phone and see if it\u2019s safe to proceed or if they need to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wehmann plans to advance the project for his master\u2019s thesis when he begins his advanced degree program at Oregon State next fall. \u201cI not only want to take photos of radiation, I also want to time stamp them and add GPS coordinates so the information can be uploaded to a server and networked to map out larger area of high radiation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other team members
\nBashayr Almusali<\/strong>, Radiation Health Physics
\nJustin Gillilan<\/strong>, Radiation Health Physics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Steve Frandzel Sophia Uchiyama and her Expo team have designed a small, inexpensive radiation detector which will enable anyone with a smart phone to \u201cphotograph\u201d radiation and determine in a flash if they\u2019re being exposed to high levels of radiation. \u201cWe wanted something that\u2019s easy to understand for people who are not trained in… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[523,101480],"tags":[216285,1264,155],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-students-3","tag-2016-undergraduate-expo","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-oregon-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}