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Oceanit creating market for onboard Geiger counters

Oceanit Oceanit Latest from The Business Journals University of Hawaii Board of Regents names two membersOceanit, Applied Marine, Dunhill awarded Navy contractsScoops: Who’s Moving, Buying, Opening, Changing, Winning Follow this company , one of Hawaii’s largest science and engineering firms, plans to lead an effort to help Japan with its radiation problems after the explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

One of the main issues is that there are not enough Geiger counters to survey all of Japan for radiation particles.

Oceanit and Honolulu Hackerspace, a group of software developers and engineers, is teaming up to mass-produce portable Geiger counters with GPS devices that attach to cars.

“It gives people the chance to drive around and collect samples,” Oceanit Marketing Director Ian Kitajima told PBN.

The “bento box” Geigers, which are named that because they literally resemble a bento box, have existed for 2-3 months. So far, only 15 units were built.

It was created by Safecast, a company that collects radiation data in Japan.

Peiter Franken, one of the co-founders, is in Hawaii and was looking for a volunteer to collect some data.

Through friends in the tech community, Kitajima was chosen to try it out.

“I drove through Waikiki on Saturday night and back through central Oahu and there’s quite a contrast to the readings we’re getting here to the readings they’re getting in Fukushima, which is really bad,” Kitajima told PBN.

The waterproof box consists of a Geiger counter, a GPS unit and an adrenal board or a mini computer.

It takes a reading every few seconds, which is time-stamped and then uploaded to the Web site, www.safecast.org. The Safecast Map depicts over 200,000 radiation data points throughout Japan. …

Tags: Oceanit, Oceanit Creating