Specifications

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Communication Overview
39
COM
Radiation Mapping with a PDA
Mapping radiation contamination after accidents or at waste
disposal sites demands complete accuracy and the ability to
pinpoint contaminated areas. There are commercially available
systems with which to do this, however they are typically large
costly units. To solve the problems of both cost and portability,
one Quatech customer has developed a radiation mapping system
around a palmtop computer.
The system is comprised of an HP200LX palmtop (PDA) equipped
with both a built-in serial port and a PCMCIA slot. A Global
Positioning System (GPS) receiver is connected to the built-in
RS-232 port. Quatech’s DSP-100 dual serial port card provides
two additional RS-232 ports via the PCMCIA slot.
Each of those ports is connected to a Geiger counter, which
triggers an interrupt on the palmtop every time a radiation event
is detected. Gamma radiation dose rate and location are collected
for processing with a Geographical Information System (GIS).
The system is presently being used for mapping background
terrestrial radiation. It is sufficiently sensitive to accurately
measure the environmental levels of radiation. Because of the
small size of the PDA itself, and the equipment connected to it,
the system can be mounted on a backpack, enabling walking
surveys for detailed mapping of possibly contaminated areas.
The system can also be mounted on a jeep to survey larger areas.
(PDA with DSP-100 installed, connected to
a GPS system and a Geiger counter)
(Radiation mapping system mounted on a jeep)
Marine Navigation
All boaters, recreational or business, could benefit from a radar
system on their vessel. However, many systems are too large or
too expensive for typical boaters to use. One Quatech customer
has created a radar system that allows even small boats to benefit
from radar functions found on large ships.
The system begins with a radar transceiver mounted high-up
and outside of a boat. The transceiver sends the information it
has collected to a PC-based navigation station via a RS-422 port
added to the system via a Quatech RS-422/485 USB adapter.
(Quatech RS-422/485 USB adapaters are available with 2, 4, 8, or
16 ports. See page 88 for product specifications.) The RS-422
protocol was chosen because it is capable of passing high
speed data over long cable runs and is not susceptible to
shipboard noise. After the information is sent to the PC
via the serial interface, a radar image is displayed on the
monitor. Specialized software turns an “off-the-shelf PC”
into a radar control center with many of the functions
found on big-ship radar systems. Boaters can track their
own vessels, find fishing “hotspots,” be warned of incoming
targets and their positions, as well as overlay radar images on
raster and vector charts--a feature unique to this system. All of
this is accomplished through a typical PC.
Quatech's Application Services team (see page 212) is currently
working with this customer to provide a custom USB solution,
offering one RS-232 port and one RS-422 port. The RS-422
port will continue to transmit the information from the radar
transceiver to the PC, while the RS-232 port will allow serial
position information from a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)
receiver to be fed into the PC at the same time.
(Radar transceiver with monitor displaying GPS data)