Wireless Radiation Sensor Network with directional radiation detectors

Wireless Radiation Sensor Networks (WRSNs) are promising for military and security applications as they can provide remote detection of sources of radiation with simple, robust radiation detection technologies. This paper shows the results of a combined simulation of wireless networking, and radiation detection with directional gamma-ray detectors. The specific WRSN scenario under study involves a source of radiation being transported through a crossroads. Two different isotopes (60Co and 137Cs) with various activities were simulated to pass through the crossroads at four different speeds (from walking speed to 144 km/hr). A number of different networking and communication protocols were studied. The performance of two algorithms to localize and quantify the radiation sources is presented.