ZigBee wireless sensor network for radiation monitoring at nuclear facilities

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is increasing its market share in many industrial, health, surveillance and nuclear applications. This paper describes the design of a WSN that allows smart real time monitoring of radiation levels at nuclear facilities. We develop a local low cost prototype of wireless sensor node equipped with a radiation sensor. The wireless node based on ZigBee technology and Arduino platform, it is implemented using TI CC2530 chips. The radiation sensor is based on Geiger Muller tube (GMT) as a reliable detector for the radioactive particulates in the gaseous effluent vented from nuclear facilities. The WSN allows the operators to record and control the radiation levels emitted to the environment and it is supported with warning system for the early detection of radiation release. We evaluated the performance of the radiation sensor by the accuracy of the readings while the wireless link performance is represented in terms of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), the Link Quality Indicator (LQI) and the Packet Reception Ratio (PRR).