Development of a portable radiation detector using a scintillator

Portable radiation detectors are commonly used as real-time radiation monitors and personal radiation dosimeters. In this research, we have developed a portable radiation detector by using a light to frequency photosensor. This detector is constructed with only a MCU (micro-controller unit) and a sensor, which makes it more compact and portable than a conventional detector with an ADC chip and a circuit board. We used a photosensor called TSL238 that converts light intensity to digital frequency signals. We choose the raspberryPi, which is used to count frequency as the MCU. A raspberryPi is a small computer and has a wireless internet port so that we can control detector and acquire data remotely. We tested CsI, CsI(Tl), NaI crystals in order to find a better scintillator. We also tested the linearity of the detector by using X-rays produced by an X-ray generator, which we controlled by using the current and the voltage. We measured the X-ray energy by using a survey meter.