September 27, 2008
Blackberry As A Bomb Sniffer
Distributing chips in cell phones may be more effective than expensive radiation detectors. Newsweek reports.
"... Technologists at Purdue University is designing a detection system that's so small it could fit into cell phones. The project, known as Distributed Nuclear Detection by Ubiquitous Cell Phone, would help locate dirty bombs or nuclear weapons by "triangulating" the source of radiation when people carrying mobile phones pass by.
The greater the number of equipped cell phones, the greater the precision: phones closest to radioactive material would register stronger signals. The Purdue project and others like it represent a "major shift" in combating radiation terrorism, says Rita Colwell, a former director of the National Science Foundation and now a professor at the University of Maryland.
... The Purdue team is lobbying Congress to require cell-phone users and telecoms, which will have to collect the data, to participate. Yet legislation mandating participation may not be necessary."
Related:
-- Cellphone sniffs out dirty bombs
-- Phones that detect terrorist attacks
-- Cell phone could warn of gas leaks
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