Re: [Safecast Jpn] KURAMA (Kyoto University RAdiation MApping system) on buses in Fukushima

[Pieter Franken]

Stig, thanks for posting this.

The main difference with our approach is that all data is open and shared. It's not clear why the data is kept secret - universities have an important role to play in society and should be transparent, especially in times of a crisis like this.

Other then that, the system is very much the same as the bGeigie Classic (1st generation). It's nice they have a 3G option to auto upload the data, but as the measurements do not require real-time relay, it just adds cost to operating the system. 

For the bus it seems the system is installed inside the bus. This will require some adjustment on the measurement as the bus is a rather big shield. So some calibration of the "bus with KURAMA" is needed to ensure the measurement is representing does rate observed outside of the bus.

A variety of equipment is used - it is much better to stick to the same sensor to maintain consistency w/o need to have to adjust for characteristics  of different equipment.

I hope Kyoto University will publish the data to the public and make the design open - that would be a step forward for KURAMA.

Pieter

On Dec 25, 2011, at 2:45 PM, Stig Bjorge wrote:

On December 22 Kyoto University announced that it will load their Kyoto University RAdiation Mapping system (KURAMA) behind the rearmost seats inside local buses in Fukushima so that the radiation levels of actual living areas of residents can be measured.  http://www.rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kurama/system.html

The GPS equipped survey system is the size of a tool box and the data will be sent real-time via internet and it will be shared with Fukushima prefectural government and the central government of Japan, starting from December 27.

http://www.excite.co.jp/News/society_g/20111222/Jiji_20111222X739.html

Kyoto University is also currently running various other KURAMA surveys. However, even though they share data with local governments and the central government, they do not share their data as Open Source with the public in general like Safecast do.

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