SBIR-STTR Award

Online Design Software for Shielded Radiation Facilities
Award last edited on: 12/17/07

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NIH : NCRR
Total Award Amount
$1,019,287
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
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Principal Investigator
John H McCall

Company Information

Biomed Software Inc

72 Kensington Street
Newton, MA 02460
   (617) 694-4460
   jmccall@biomedsoftware.net
   www.biomedsoftware.net
Location: Single
Congr. District: 04
County: Middlesex

Phase I

Contract Number: 1R43RR019778-01A1
Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
Phase I year
2004
Phase I Amount
$116,716
Radiation sources are used throughout our society. By law, each radiation source must be properly shielded. Presently, design of shielded facilities or assemblies is performed via extensive and laborious hand calculations and with simple analytical tools that make use of broad simplifying assumptions. This application proposes the development of a simple, easy-to-use software package for shielded facility design and effective dose determination. Such a package will allow the user to evaluate a range of different shielding scenarios in which materials and/or layout are iteratively altered. This capability is prohibitively laborious and tedious with existing hand calculation approaches. The proposed software package will reside as a thin client on the user's desktop and will consist of an easy-to-use interface into which all details regarding the facility, radiation source, and personnel locations are entered by the user. These inputs will be sent via the Internet to the BioMed Software Inc. server where the software will interpret all entries and assemble an appropriate input file to be run with the MCNP Monte Carlo code. Use of the MCNP code as the simulation engine allows full 3D modeling of the realistic scenario, including many radiation types, creation of secondary particles and full accounting for all interaction process, something not possible with existing approaches. In addition, users will be able to calculate effective dose equivalent, also not possible with the hand calculation approach which provides estimates of exposure. All simulations will be performed on a secure server, freeing the user's computer for other tasks and limiting unauthorized access to the MCNP code. Technical challenges include creating a fully interactive 3D user interface, automating formation of a complex MCNP input file based on simple user inputs, handling multiple simultaneous users, maintaining server integrity, and reduction of intensive simulation computation time.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, computer program /software, computer system design /evaluation, online computer, radiation protection, safety equipment, user protection biomedical automation, computer human interaction, computer simulation, environmental radiation, radiation dosage, radiological health bioengineering /biomedical engineering

Phase II

Contract Number: 2R44RR019778-02A1
Start Date: 3/1/04    Completed: 8/31/08
Phase II year
2006
(last award dollars: 2007)
Phase II Amount
$902,571

Radiation sources are used throughout our society. By law, each radiation source must be properly shielded. Presently, design of shielded facilities or assemblies is performed via extensive and laborious hand calculations and with simple analytical tools that make use of broad simplifying assumptions. This application proposes the development of a simple, easy-to-use software package for shielded facility design and effective dose determination. Such a package will allow the user to evaluate a range of different shielding scenarios in which materials and/or layout are iteratively altered. This capability is prohibitively laborious and tedious with existing hand calculation approaches. The proposed software package will launch by icon from the users computer desktop using a pre-installed JAVA application. All details regarding radiation sources, facility and detector/phantom locations will be supplied by the user via an easy-to-use design interface. The software will then interpret all entries and assemble an appropriate input file to be run with the MCNP Monte Carlo code. Use of the MCNP code as the simulation engine allows full 3D modeling of the realistic scenario, including many radiation types, creation of secondary particles and full accounting for all interaction processes, something not possible with existing approaches. In addition, users will be able to calculate effective dose equivalent, also not possible with the hand calculation approach which provides estimates of exposure or air kerma. All simulations will be performed on multiple tiered secure servers, freeing the user's computer for other tasks and limiting unauthorized access to the MCNP code. Technical challenges include creating a fully interactive 3D user interface, development of strategies allowing nearly unlimited flexibility in facility and source design, automating formation of a complex MCNP input file based on simple user inputs, creating a secure network application, and maintaining server integrity.

Thesaurus Terms:
There Are No Thesaurus Terms On File For This Project.