IRIS Digital Dosimeter Project

By Michelle Pichardo, Andrew Yegiayan, Aidan Zinn, and David Smith

The Intense Radiation Integrating Sensor (IRIS) is a novel digital dosimeter for detecting terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) - intense, millisecond-long bursts of gamma rays originating from thunderstorms that pose potential radiation hazards to aircraft and the public. IRIS will capture real-time dose rate measurements on 10 ms timescales using custom instrumentation featuring a microcontroller for digitization and timing, photodiodes for wide dynamic range, and scintillator and GPS modules.

Boards: Adafruit M0 Adalogger, Adafruit M4 Express + SD Featherwing

Accompanying Documentation

While there are several READMEs scattered throughout this repository, please refer to our public notes for a comprehensive overview of the software side of the project.

Contents

1. analysis
   This directory contains Python programs specifically designed for the analysis of data files generated by the IRIS unit. The primary focus of these programs is to address concerns related to time gaps that occur during data storage. These gaps, if not managed properly, may result in missing significant events entirely.

2. docs
   The Docs directory comprises drawings, files, and images essential for the analysis of IRIS data. These resources contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the project.

3. packages
   The Packages directory houses all immediately usable sketches and scripts relevant to the IRIS Digital Dosimeter project.

4. sandbox
   The Sandbox directory houses in-development or reference sketches that aid development.

5. legacy
   The Legacy directory holds old unused files and such in order to declutter the repo.

Troubleshooting

Port not detected

The Serial port is busy-stuck in use by something, so we must force it into bootloader mode to return to a clean slate.

• double tap the reset button