No. 314: Use a smartphone to measure the amount of radiation (September 22, 2011)

NTT DoCoMo developed the technology to measure the amount of radiation and ultraviolet using a smartphone. A sensor attached to the special case of a smartphone measures the amount of radiation and the application software installed in the smartphone confirmed the measurement data. Users can use their smartphones in a variety of ways including as a device for health management and in time of disaster by changing the cases specially designed for a smartphone.  

The company launched three kinds of cases. They are the case in time of disaster to measure the amount of radiation, the case for health management that measures body fat percentage, and the case for women that detects mouth odor and alcohol and measures ultraviolet. What a user needs to do is to boot up the application and attach the case to his smartphone. For health management, for example, he needs to hold the specific part of the case and extend his hand to get measurement results. NTT DoCoMo plans to develop the mechanism to determine the concentration of acetone when the user breathes on a miniature device connected to a smartphone.