Skolkovo, the state-supported innovation hub under completion near Moscow, announced yesterday it has offered a grant of 1.35 million rubles, approximately $45,000, to its resident Intersoft Eurasia, a startup developing a dosimeter-radiometer that can be built into a smartphone or used as a separate, detachable unit (see video).
The device’s inventor, Vladimir Elin, started developing the technology in the spring of last year, soon after the Fukushima catastrophe. The detachable sensor uses a semiconductor detector and operates via a standard USB-port or remotely (via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi), thus offering an assembly-ready mobile dosimeter-radiometer. The technology, named ‘DO-RA,’ an abbreviation for Dosimeter-Radiometer, can already be tested in the form of emulation software applications compatible with iOS, Android, and WP7 platforms.
Included in DO-RA’s wide range of functions are calculations of acute or cumulative radiation exposure. DO-RA automatically generates realtime reports on the radiation status of the environment. It also informs the user of acceptably low, moderate, and excessive radiation exposure levels via specific audible signals and makes recommendations as to ways of avoiding the accumulation of radiation.
Moreover, the device uses the GPS and GLONASS positioning systems to transmit local radiation data to the World Radiation Monitoring Center. The data is later returned in the form of detailed terrain maps, with expanses of water and other features marked according to their level of radiation contamination, says the company.
The first public presentation of DO-RA took place in Moscow last November. The company claims that the exclusive rights to its intangible assets can be valued at more than $100 million, “according to a Deloitte & Touche valuation method specially developed for Rusnano.”
