Wearable Dosimeters for Medical and Defence Applications: A State of the Art Review

Abstract

Wearable dosimeters form an essential part of the personnel protection scheme in work spaces such as defence, nuclear establishments, and medical fields with radiation hazard. In the current scenario where use of high energy ionizing radiation sources (nuclear sources) is indispensable, the need of radiation detectors is mandatory for measuring the dose received by the person exposed in his work space and also measure the dose for patients where nuclear radiation is used for treatment. Wearable dosimeters need to have some special requirements apart from being accurate, precise, and robust. These need to be light in weight and should cause no harm to the human body while it is touching the body or apparels. This paper comprises an introduction to dosimeters, key characteristics, important techniques used for detection of neutrons and X‐rays and also mentions about a few potential companies involved in developing wearable dosimeters in these application areas. The techniques have been collated, described, compared and the need to detect neutrons and X‐rays has been expressed keeping in mind the demand from the defence and medical disciplines. This review also contains artificial intelligence and internet of things which form the basis of trending and upcoming wearable dosimeters.

Recent Advances in Wearable Sensing Technologies

“…Radiation sensor Tracks ionizing [97] and nonionizing [98] radiation in the proximity of its wearer.…”

A Versatile Photochromic Dosimeter Enabling Detection of X‐Ray, Ultraviolet, and Visible Photons

“…Light dosimeters can be classified into two different types: active dosimeters and passive dosimeters. [10,11] Examples of active dosimeters are ionization chambers, scintillation detectors and semiconductor detectors, which convert light into electrical charges and can measure an instantaneous dose rate or light intensity. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] However, this type of detector usually requires a power supply and a real-time data processing for long-duration measurements, making them bulky and costly to provide integrated dose information.…”

PbWO4 Synergistically Modified with Styrene Maleic Anhydride and Bis(dioctyl pyrophosphate) Ethylene Titanate in Highly Filled Polymer Fibers for Enhanced γ‐Ray Shielding Safety and Wear Comfort of Articles

“…However, accompanying nuclear radiations (such as γ‐rays) pose serious threats to human health. [ 1–3 ] Then, taking use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is of vital importance to radiation protection safety of nuclear personnel involved. [ 4–6 ] Currently, the PPE is fabricated with rubber‐based composites containing high atomic number (high Z) fillers such as lead (Pb), tungsten (W), and bismuth (Bi).…”

“…However, accompanying nuclear radiations (such as γ-rays) pose serious threats to human health. [1][2][3] Then, taking use of to the facts that the issues on dispersion of high loading inorganic particles and compatibility of interfaces are difficult to be tackled with for polymer fibers. Then, highly filled polymer fibers either cannot be processed, or displays poor mechanical properties.…”