A complete low cost radon detection system

Development of multi-detector soil radon measurement system based on IoT

A multi-detector soil radon measurement system based on IoT (the Internet of Things) has been developed for the specific application of long-term monitoring of soil radon concentration in remote mining areas. The system utilizes the scintillation chamber method to measure radon concentration, with SiPM (Silicon photomultiplier) for photoelectric conversion. This is combined with temperature compensation technology and 'triple-proof' protection measures to enhance the anti-interference capability of the instrument, thereby indirectly ensuring the accuracy of the measurement results. To address the issue of inconvenient data networking in the field, a complementary 'NB-IoT (Narrow Band Internet of Things) + Bluetooth' dual wireless network transmission method is employed. Additionally, the online monitoring and management platform for soil radon concentration on the cloud server enables online monitoring and management of data.The developed system demonstrated a sensitivity of 1.56 cph/(Bq/m³), a relative error of ≤10%, and an relative standard deviation (RSD) of ≤5.59%. Additionally, the system exhibited an endurance of 53 h when powered by a 12Ah battery and connected to three measurement nodes. The calibrated system has conducted long-term monitoring of radon concentration in a uranium mining area. The test and practical application demonstrate that the developed system meets the requirements of field data networking and the expansion of multiple detection nodes, operates reliably, and enables long-term continuous online monitoring of radon concentration at multiple depths of a single measuring point and multiple measuring points in a region. This provides effective data support for soil radon-related research.

Radon in Indoor Air: Towards Continuous Monitoring

Radon poses significant health risks. Thus, the continuous monitoring of radon concentrations in buildings’ indoor air is relevant, particularly in schools. Low-cost sensors devices are emerging as promising technologies, although their reliability is still unknown. Therefore, this is the first study aiming to evaluate the performance of low-cost sensors devices for short-term continuous radon monitoring in the indoor air of nursery and primary school buildings. Five classrooms of different age groups (infants, pre-schoolers and primary school children) were selected from one nursery and one primary school in Porto (Portugal). Radon indoor concentrations were continuously monitored using one reference instrument (Radim 5B) and three commercially available low-cost sensors devices (Airthings Wave and RandonEye: RD200 and RD200P2) for short-term sampling (2–4 consecutive days) in each studied classroom. Radon concentrations were in accordance with the typical profiles found in other studies (higher on weekends and non-occupancy periods than on occupancy). Both RadonEye low-cost sensors devices presented similar profiles with Radim 5B and good performance indices (R2 reaching 0.961), while the Airthings Wave behavior was quite different. These results seem to indicate that the RadonEye low-cost sensors devices studied can be used in short-term radon monitoring, being promising tools for actively reducing indoor radon concentrations.

Low-Cost Radon Detector with Low-Voltage Air-Ionization Chamber

This paper describes the design of a low-cost radon detector that can easily be fabricated in large quantities for the purposes of earthquake prediction. The described detector can also be used for monitoring radon levels in houses because high radon levels pose a great health risk. A very simple air-ionization chamber for alpha particles was used, considering the experimental results. Chamber current-sensing circuitry is also suggested, and an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor grid is described. The main advantages of this detector are the low cost, low power consumption, and complete elimination of high-voltage power sources. The minimum detectable activity achieved with the proposed detector for one measurement was around 50Bq·m−3, with time of measurement comparable to that featured on commercial devices, while the price of the described detector is one order of magnitude lower.