Smartphone Simulator for Realistic Radiation HAZMAT and Emergency Response Training

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Smartphone Simulator for Realistic Radiation HAZMAT and Emergency Response Training Project Summary High levels of ionizing radiation are a major public health concern. This proposal seeks to develop a simulator-based tool for radiation HAZMAT and emergency response training. The smartphone simulator produces a virtual environment where the trainee can explore the operation of a variety of handheld radiation detectors in realistic scenarios involving the presence of radioactive sources. The smartphone application (app) will emulate a wide range of commercial instruments with different capabilities, limitations and modes of operation. It also creates realistic scenarios that capture the effect of radioactive sources of unknown strength and composition, shielding, distance and the layout of buildings and landscape. The training app is based on recent software developments at CapeSym that allow for high fidelity simulation of both the radiation environment and the response of commercial detector instruments. The training app will be designed to allow direct participation of the instructor, both in defining the radiation scenario and assessing the performance of the trainees. The training modules will be customizable by the instructor, using easy-to-modify templates. As the app would be on the trainee's smartphone, all of the training modules would be available outside of a traditional training course, providing opportunities for continual, self-directed training. The proposed app will allow trainees to receive hands-on experience with expensive instruments, at negligible cost. It also allows training in simulated complex scenarios with high levels of gamma and neutron radiation, which can be otherwise prohibitively dangerous and expensive to conduct. This training app allows for wide-spread, low-cost training of a large number of HAZMAT and emergency responders across the country. To date we have demonstrated the technical feasibility of our approach, and have demonstrated fully functional emulators for two commercial radiation detection instruments. In Phase II, we will add additional detection capabilities to our emulators, release a software toolkit for third-party development of emulators for a wide range of commercial equipment, and develop software tools for trainers for easy setup and monitoring of complex search and identify scenarios. We will work closely with the HAZMAT training program of International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to incorporate the developed app into training programs for HAZMAT and emergency responders.