Real-time remotely programmable radioactive gas detecting and measuring system

A system for detecting and measuring one of a concentration of physical and chemical properties of a target material within an environment of interest, said system comprising:

• a testing facility having a data processing system disposed therein;
• and
• a monitoring device disposed within said environment of interest and operatively coupled to said data processing system, said monitoring device comprising:
• a detector having a housing defining a chamber, a collector disposed in said chamber and a sensor electrically coupled to said collector, said housing having at least one opening for allowing said target material within said environment of interest to enter said chamber, said collector for detecting target chemical compounds within said chamber, and said sensor for selectively measuring integrated electrical signals of said collector in response to an accumulation of said chemical compounds;
• a transmitter for transmitting said measured changes in said electrostatic potential and/or integrated electrical signals to said data processing systems;
• and
• a receiver for receiving signals from said data processing system, said signals including parameters employed by said sensor in said selective measuring;
• wherein said data processing system selects said parameters from a plurality of parameters in accordance with said concentration of said target material determined by said data processing system from previously transmitted measured changes in said electrostatic potential and/or said integrated electrical signals.

A system for detecting and measuring a concentration of one of radioactive gas, suspended aerosol and non-radioactive gaseous chemistries within an environment of interest, said system comprising:

• a testing facility having a data processing system disposed therein;
• and
• a monitoring device disposed within said environment of interest and operatively coupled to said data processing system, said monitoring device comprising:
• a detector having a housing defining a chamber and a sensor disposed in said chamber, said housing having at least one opening for allowing said radioactive gas, said suspended aerosol particles and said chemistries within said environment of interest to enter said chamber, said sensor including a material disposed within one of an electric and magnetic field formed within said sensor, said material having optical properties that vary in response to changes in said field, wherein changes over time of said optical properties is representative of changing field strengths;
• and
• a transmitter for transmitting said changing field strength to said data processing system.

A monitoring system for measuring a concentration of one of a radioactive gas, radioactive aerosol particles and non-radioactive gaseous chemistries within an environment of interest, said system comprising:

• a data processing system having programming logic for determining said concentration of said radioactive gas, said radioactive aerosol particles and said non-radioactive gaseous chemistries from a plurality of data points;
• and
• a programmable monitoring device coupled to said data processing system by a communication network, said monitoring device comprising:
• a sensor having a housing defining a chamber and a collector for collecting ions generated by a decay of said radioactive gas, said radioactive aerosol particles and said non-radioactive gaseous chemistries within said chamber, said housing having at least one opening for allowing said radioactive gas, said radioactive aerosol particles and said non-radioactive gaseous chemistries within said environment of interest to enter said chamber;
• a detector for selectively measuring changes in an electrostatic potential of said collector in response to an accumulation of said generated ions;
• a transmitter for transmitting said measured changes in said electrostatic potential to said data processing system, said measured changes corresponding to said plurality of data points;
• and
• a receiver for receiving signals from said data processing system, said signals including parameters employed by said sensor in said selective measuring;
• wherein said data processing system selects said parameters from a plurality of parameters in accordance with said concentration of said target material determined by said data processing system from previously transmitted measured changes in said electrostatic potential.

A method for detecting and measuring one of a concentration of a radioactive gas and suspended radioactive aerosols within an environment of interest, comprising:

• providing a housing defining a chamber;
• providing a sensor disposed in the chamber, the sensor including a material having optical properties that vary in response to changes in one of an electric and magnetic field;
• allowing the radioactive gas and the suspended radioactive aerosols to diffuse into the chamber;
• forming one of an electric and magnetic field about the material;
• decreasing a strength of the field in proportion to ions generated by a decay of the radioactive gas and suspended radioactive aerosols;
• selectively measuring a change in the strength of the field by measuring changes in the optical properties of the material;
• and
• transmitting the measurements of the changing field strength to a data processing system having programming logic for calculating the concentration of the radioactive gas and suspended radioactive aerosols from the transmitted measurements.