Cell Phones As a Dirty Bomb Detection Network 103
First time accepted submitter iinventstuff writes "The Idaho National Laboratory has built a dirty bomb detection network out of cell phones. Camera phones operate by detecting photons and storing them as a picture. The INL discovered that high energy photons from radiological sources distort the image in ways detectable through image processing. KSL TV reports that the INL's mobile app detects radiation sources and then reports positive 'hits' to a central server. Terrorists deploying a dirty bomb will inevitably pass by people carrying cell phones. By crowdsourcing cell phones, the INL has created a potentially very large, inexpensive, and randomly mobile radiation detection grid."
Get'em guys! (Score:4, Insightful)
"Yep, that guy! Over there! Jump him, he's a terrorist!"
"Who me? I just got my thyroid irradiated, give me a break."
Talk about adding insult to injury.
Re:A Slashdot user predicted this way ahead of tim (Score:3, Insightful)
As someone who designs camera phones, we're well aware of this phenomenon but we're not going to spend precious power telling the user there might be a radiological source nearby. Chances are it'll be a hospital.