Smartphone Simulator for Realistic Radiation HAZMAT and Emergency Response Training

Smartphone Simulator for Realistic Radiation HAZMATand Emergency Response Training Project Summary High levels of ionizing radiation are a major public health concernThis proposal seeks to develop a simulator based tool for radiation HAZMAT and emergency response trainingThe smartphone simulator produces a virtual environment where the trainee can explore the operation of a variety of handheld radiation detectors in realistic scenarios involving the presence of radioactive sourcesThe smartphone applicationappwill emulate a wide range of commercial instruments with different capabilitieslimitations and modes of operationIt also creates realistic scenarios that capture the effect of radioactive sources of unknown strength and compositionshieldingdistance and the layout of buildings and landscapeThe training app is based on recent software developments at CapeSym that allow for high fidelity simulation of both the radiation environment and the response of commercial detector instrumentsThe training app will be designed to allow direct participation of the instructorboth in defining the radiation scenario and assessing the performance of the traineesThe training modules will be customizable by the instructorusing easy to modify templatesAs the app would be on the trainee s smartphoneall of the training modules would be available outside of a traditional training courseproviding opportunities for continualself directed trainingThe proposed app will allow trainees to receive hands on experience with expensive instrumentsat negligible costIt also allows training in simulated complex scenarios with high levels of gamma and neutron radiationwhich can be otherwise prohibitively dangerous and expensive to conductThis training app allows for wide spreadlow cost training of a large number of HAZMAT and emergency responders across the countryTo date we have demonstrated the technical feasibility of our approachand have demonstrated fully functional emulators for two commercial radiation detection instrumentsIn Phase IIwe will add additional detection capabilities to our emulatorsrelease a software toolkit for third party development of emulators for a wide range of commercial equipmentand develop software tools for trainers for easy setup and monitoring of complex search and identify scenariosWe will work closely with the HAZMAT training program of International Association of Fire FightersIAFFto incorporate the developed app into training programs for HAZMAT and emergency responders