Since 911, Uncle Sam has scrambled to shore up security at public places where large numbers of people congregate. Ideas that have been tossed around include radiation detectors on the rooftops of prominent buildings in New York City and detectors in airports as well as ports of entry. All of these ideas would improve security, but cost has been one of the major stumbling blocks with all of these enhancements.
Project Leader Andrew Longman of Purdue University is suggesting a low cost alternative that may actually offer greater security. Under his plan, dubbed the Distributed Nuclear Detection by Ubiquitous Cell Phone, mobile devices can be fitted with a low cost detection system. The more devices that have the detection system installed, the larger and more accurate the net to detect dirty bombs.
With this system, when multiple devices come in close proximity of a dirty bomb, together, they can triangulate the exact location of the bomb and relay the information to a central command center.
