Radiation is all around us. Everywhere! It’s invisible and requires an instrument to detect it. A small amount of radiation is always present and is not harmful. But when the radiation level changes, it’s good too know about it! RadSense measures what is happening your local environment.
RadSense is a solar powered wireless geiger counter that you can easily hook up to your Raspberry Pi! All software is provided and it is all OPEN_SOURCE!
See the RadSense Kit Here Now on Kickstarter!
Given the situation in the world today, it’s even more important to understand your environment and contribute your local information to others through Citizen Science!
You can make a difference!
This is an easy DIY radiation detector kit that you build with NO SOLDERING! It reads the radiation in your environment and sends it to a database on your Raspberry Pi computer.
RadSense – A solar powered wireless Geiger Counter!
The WeatherSense RadSense is built around a Geiger counter that counts the number of energetic particles hitting the gas inside the tube. Software on the Grove Mini Pro Plus board reads these counts and produces a CPM count. The computer then encodes the data and sends it via a 433MHz radio signal to your Raspberry Pi, where it is stored in a database for later analysis, graphs drawn and data sent up the Citizen Science radiation sites that you choose. EASY TO BUILD! No SOLDERING! Comes with 3D Print STL files to print your own case.
Note
This product is not a professional measuring instrument and is only suitable for principle research and teaching demonstration. Not for use in radiation dose measurement that directly affects personal safety.
Citizen Science – Sharing Your Radiation Data with RadSense
A big thing about measuring radiation is being able to share your readings with other locations to see trends or issues. We call this Citizen Science.
Citizen science (CS; also known as community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur (or nonprofessional) scientists. Citizen science is sometimes described as “public participation in scientific research”, participatory monitoring, and participatory action research whose outcomes are often advancements in scientific research by improving the scientific community’s capacity, as well as increasing the public’s understanding of science.
RadSense comes with the ability to share your data with several organizations that are interested in monitoring radiation levels around the world. The organizations currently supported by RadSense are:
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Radmon.org – data storage and live map
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GMCMap.org – data storage and live map
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Safecast.org (data storage only – No map support)
Downloads
- Raspberry Pi Software – WeatherSense
- 433MHz Demodulation Software for the Raspberry Pi
- Arduino Software for the Mini Pro Plus Board (Coming Soon during Kickstarter)
- Step-by-Step Manuals (Coming Soon during Kickstarter)
What comes in the RadSense Kit?
This is everything you need to build your own Solar Wireless Geiger Counter. You also receive all manuals, open source software and the STL files for doing your own 3D Print (you can order a 3D print on the kickstarter if you don’t have access to a 3D printer).
What Else do I need?
We provide all the Raspberry Pi Software needed.
You can hook this up to your Pi by using a readily available inexpensive Software Defined Radio (SDR) which is also available in the Kickstarter as an add-on reward.
An SDR is a radio communication system where components that have been traditionally implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded system (still with significant hardware support.)
The SDR we are using with WeatherSense is based on the powerful RTL2832U and R820T tuner, it can tune into signals from 24MHz to 1850MHz. SwitchDoc Labs has written drivers for the WeatherSense sensors and supplies the drivers to the community open source. These are all available in a pre-built SD Card image.
WeatherSense Raspberry Pi Software for RadSense
But wait! There is more. The Wireless WeatherSense kits come with a full set of open source software for your Raspberry Pi. You can download the software from github.com/switchdoclabs, download the included link to a SD Card Image or add-on a pre-formatted SD Card with all these goodies already on the card for a simpler experience.
The WeatherSense Raspberry Pi software includes:
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All messages published on MQTT (topic: weathersense/#)
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Installed rtl_433 433MHz open source drivers
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WeatherSense open source database program – stores your data!
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A dash_app for the Raspberry Pi ready to display and analyize your data from all the WeatherSense sensors!
The WeatherSense software supports:
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WeatherSense RadSense Radiation Monitor (This Project)
And more WeatherSense sensors on the way!
What is WeatherSense?
WeatherSense is a set of open source protocols and wireless weather / environmental sensors for use with the Raspberry Pi. You can see and modify the software to do what you like and tie it all into the SkyWeather2 Weather Station. Or write your own!
The WeatherSense Open Source Protocol
All of the WeatherSense devices use an open source protocol. You know exactly what is begin transmitted and when. You can even play with the source code to change what is being transmitted and where to receive it!
3D print it, NO SOLDERING needed.