Maker Faire NYC 2011

Maker Faire NYC 2011

Case Studies of Open Source Hardware Projects:
The Nuclear Accident in Japan

September 17 2011 at Make: Live stage, New York Hall of Science, NYC, NY, U.S.A.
Shigeru Kobayshi (Geiger Maps Jp, IAMAS)

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Let me start with a brief self introduction. I worked for a digital musical instrument company
[CLICK]. I’m teaching at a small public school of design and media arts, IAMAS, and I
developed open source toolkits for physical computing such as Gainer [CLICK] and Funnel
[CLICK].

Photo: Shunsuke Takawo

Maker Faire NYC 2011 | Shigeru Kobayashi
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This is the Gainer hardware, released in 2006

Photo: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]

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designed to use with a breadboard, jumper wires and various components.

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I have been writing articles about prototyping for MAKE magazine in Japanese regularly.

Photo: Kenichi Hagihara

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and wrote a book about Arduino to introduce the pleasure and importance of prototyping to
students, hobbyists, designers, artists and engineers.

FIO 4 x 4 (December, 2010)
Designed by Shigeru Kobayashi

Funnel I/O (July, 2008)

FIO (December, 2009)
and SparkFun

Arduino Fio (March, 2010)
and SparkFun

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I also designed Arduino Fio with SparkFun Electronics as an open hardware product derived
from LilyPad Arduino.

Introduction

My Personal Experience on March 11th

11.3.2011

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I was in Tokyo on March 11 to attend an academic conference. I spent several hours at a
evacuation center. I was really shocked to know the damage was really serious especially in
Tohoku area. Fortunately, I could get on a train to my home town (about 350km from Tokyo)
in the end of the day. After backed to my home, I heard about the nuclear accident. I was
really depressed by serious messages on TV, then stopped watching to do something else. In
the ﬁrst several days, I contributed the Google person ﬁnder project by Google Japan.
Simultaneously, I found popular demands about radiation levels in various places.

Introduction

My Personal Experience on March 11th

http://twitter.com/#!/vomoder/status/48004309400567808
kotobuki At last, the future is here. RT @vomoder: Finally, weather forecasters
started reporting the radiation dose. I have been in SF movies.
vomoder @kotobuki Are you already working for a GM tube + ZigBee shield?

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5 days after, on March 16th, a friend of mine asked me about possibilities of Arduino based
radiation measurement tools. The tweet gave me an idea.

Introduction

My Personal Experiences on March 11th

http://twitter.com/#!/kotobuki/status/48035931764162561
Utilizing SparkFun’s Geiger counter, and upload readings via Processing or oF and
share on Pachube will be a good way to start. Does anyone interested in
JavaScript part? I’ll be able to provide dummy data to start development.

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To start quickly, I searched available Gaiger counters and found SparkFun’s. The initial idea
was write a proxy with Processing and posting to Pachube for sharing. I tweeted the idea and
asked for collaborators. Students of IAMAS responded immediately. That was how I started.
Actually, I am just A contributor to these really large scale activities. So I’m still a little bit
hesitate to talk, since there are so many active players. But as an Open Hardware player, I’d
like to introduce Open Hardware related activities as case studies.

Introduction

Overview
• Introduction
• History
• Hardware
• Case studies
1. Japan Geigermap: At-a-glance
2. Geiger Maps Jp
3. Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace
• Summary

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This is the overview of my talk. First of all [CLICK], I’ll introduce what happened after the
accident. Then [CLICK] I'll introduce a few Open Hardware related activities inside/outside
Japan with interviews and [CLICK] closes with summary.

Introduction

The Nuclear Accident
• There was the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11th.
• In the wake of the nuclear accident at TEPCO (Tokyo Electric
Power COmpany) Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant,
media outlets were ﬁlled with information on the spread of
radiation throughout Japan.
• Since there was the lack of information, all kinds of rumors
quickly spread across social media sites, often ﬁlled with
incorrect or misleading information, and added to public
confusion.
• To make matters worse, the government and the company
were constantly saying ‘everything was okay’ when it was
obvious that it wasn't. The extent of the damage was only
disclosed three months later.

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Introduction

Hardware
• After the accident, there have been huge needs of radiation
monitoring equipments such as Geiger counters.
• Several open hardware developers responded immediately.
• Recently, several developers in Japan productized
aﬀordable Geiger counters.

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Case Study 1

Japan Geigermap: At-a-glance

http://japan.failedrobot.com

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OK, let’s talk about three cases. The ﬁrst case is Japan Geigermap.

Case Study 1

Japan Geigermap: At-a-glance | Overview
• A map by Haiyan Zhang to visualize crowd-sourced
radiation readings from across Japan.
• This and other mapping projects were taking the Pachube
feed, which came from a variety of independent and
government sources.
• This highlighted and interesting issue for Open Data, where
the government had a network of radiation sensors around
the country, but this data was not made in an open format.
• Instead, citizens could visit the government websites to
gain this information.
• Several individuals worked to scrape this information and
turned it into an open data format to feed into Pachube.

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Case Study 1

Japan Geigermap: At-a-glance | History

http://twitter.com/#!/haiyan/status/48535925248098304

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If I remember correctly, this was her ﬁrst tweet about Geiger maps on March 18th.

Case Study 1

Japan Geigermap: At-a-glance | History
http://jsdo.it/motoishmz/rdC2

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In prior to her map, a web developer, Motoi Shimizu, created a prototype of a Geiger map
utilizing Pachube feeds on March 18th and shared on jsdo.it, an online code sharing and IDE
for HTML5 by Kayac. So far over 13,000 views, and inspired many derivatives. Haiyan
expanded his idea and implemented ‘Japan Geigermap’.

Case Study 1


http://twitter.com/#!/haiyan/status/48885447346225155
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Then, she launched the ﬁrst version of Japan Geigermap on March 19th. It was only one day
after her initial tweet. So quick!

Case Study 1

• The Japan Geigermap project worked to make the sensor
information as clear as possible to citizens through design
and user experience.
• The number of government measurements was between
80-95% out of all feeds coming from Pachube.
• This means very few independent sources had setup
sensors to do additional monitoring at current moment.

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Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp

http://geigermaps.jp

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The next case is Geiger Maps Jp. I’m the team lead of this project.

Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp | Overview
• A portal for radiation maps/visualizations and a list of
aﬀordable measurement tools such as Geiger counters.
• Original idea was creating a map for the people living in
Japan to let them check radiation levels of interested points
to compare between points and the present and the past.
• Due to the complexity of setting up and calibrating geiger
counters, there was a need to organize and create
standards around units of measurement, calibration, data
feed format.
• We discovered needs a portal of Geiger maps. Then we
changed our plan and set up a portal on April 9th.
• 14 contributors, available in 12 languages

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Haiyan’s Geiger map has been really useful to know radiation levels of all over the country at
a glance. We wanted to create an additional map for the people living in Japan to let them
check radiation levels of interested points to compare between points and the present and
the past. I asked on Twitter and a designer and a web developer responded, then we started
the project. Through the discussions, we discovered needs a portal of Geiger maps. Then we
changed our plan and set up a portal on April 9th and ask for volunteer translators to
translate article into 12 languages.

Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp | A List of Hardware

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There is a list of affordable Geiger counters, mainly Open Hardware products.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Geiger Counter
• Developer: SparkFun Electronics (U.S.A.)
• Price: $149.95
• Sensor: LND 712 (α, β, γ and X-ray)
• Interface: USB, pulse
• License: CC BY-SA 3.0

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9848

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This product was already available when the accident occurred.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Geiger Counter
• SparkFun provided me a board
• I wrote sketches for Processing and Arduino, then
published on a blog about 10 days after the accident
• Several people started monitoring and sharing in response
to the article

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But it was out of stock on March 16th. So I contacted Nathan Seidle of SparkFun about
availability, and he kindly provided me a board immediately. While waiting, I wrote a simple
sketch for Arduino to simulate serial outputs of the Geiger counter. I got the board then
published an article in Japanese on March 23rd. After that, several people started monitoring
and sharing in response to the article.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Geiger Counter Twig
• Developer: Seeed Studio (China)
• Price: $42.8 (including a J408γ)
• Sensor: North Optic J408γ (γ)
• Interface: Twig (Seeed Studio’s Grove system for Arduino)
• License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/
twig-geiger-counter-p-867.html

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I also contacted Eric Pan of Seeed Studio about availability of GM tubes in China, and they
responded very quickly. They published an article, ‘Radiation detector, help needed!’ on
March 16th. So far, about 130 comments to the article, and they stocked affordable GM tubes
in the end of April, and released an interface board for a GM tube in the end of June.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Radiation Sensor Board
• Developer: Libelium (Spain)
• Price: $162.9 (€115.00)
• Sensor: North Optic J305β (β and γ)
• Interface: Arduino shield
• License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

http://www.cooking-hacks.com/index.php/
pack-radiation-sensor-board-for-arduino-geiger-tube.html

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David Cuartielles of the Arduino team contacted me on Google chat on April 6th, and he
suggested me that Libelium is working for a Geiger counter product. He introduced me to
David Gascón, the CTO of Libelium, and they provided me a sample to evaluate in the end of
May. They also published good technical documentations online.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Pocket Geiger Counter KIT
• Developer: radiation-watch.org (Japan)
• Price: $45 (¥3,500)
• Sensor: eight PIN photo diodes (γ)
• Interface: audio (to be mate with an iOS device)
• License: closed source

http://www.radiation-watch.org/p/blog-page.html

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Pocket Geiger Counter KIT is developed by radiation-watch.org, an open and non-proﬁt
project to develop cheap and smart survey meter for everyone. The project is supported by
volunteer engineers and designers inside/outside Japan, and the survey meters have been
fabricated in a factory survived in the disaster. They released the product as a kit, people can
assemble easily, on August 10th at low price. They keep this as a closed source project to
make this sustainable. I think this is a reasonable approach.

Case Study 2

Hardware | Geiger Counter Kit Mark2
• Developer: Wakamatsu Tsusho (Japan)
• Price: $282.9 (¥22,000)
• Sensor: GSTube SBM-20 (γ)
• Interface: USB, LAN (Pachube, Twitter)
• License: an open source license

http://www.wakamatsu-net.com/cgibin/biz/
pageshousai.cgi?code=53150002&CATE=5315

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This is a just recently released mbed based Geiger counter kit and claims that ‘open source’
and compatible with Pachube/Twitter. Now ‘Pachube’ is gradually becoming known among
citizen in Japan after the disaster.

Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp | Create | Feeds

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There are tutorials about feeding sensor readings to Pachube, and a tool to setup feeds
quickly.

Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp | Interviews

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There are interviews of key players such as Haiyan Zhang.

Case Study 2

Geiger Maps Jp | Labs

Motoi Shimizu and Takashi Kondo
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There is also a Geiger map by original members.

Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace

http://safecast.org
http://tokyohackerspace.org

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The last case is Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace.

Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace | Overview
• A volunteer group (10-12) doing monitoring, mapping, and
visualization for public safety applications.
• Started by a group of people a few weeks after the
Fukushima Dai-Ichi explosions.
• The initial idea was to scrape public websites for data and
aggregate into one place.
• Later on, Tokyo Hackerspace got involved and the scope
was expanded to crowdsourced radiation monitoring,
mobile data collection, and stationary sensor networks.
• They proposed their idea on Kickstarter.com and funded
successfully.
• Keio University and various communications carriers are
also getting involved now as well.
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The core members of Safecast were Joichi Ito, Ray Ozzie, Sean Bonner, and Pieter Franken.

Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace | Map

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This is the map by Safecast. The map covers over million points by both stationary and
mobile sensor nodes.

Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace | Hardware
• The original stationary sensor network design was based
on the Arduino platform.
• An Arduino clone (Freakduino) + a custom shield (the
network chip and a high voltage Geiger tube driver).
• The software was based on my Geiger counter sketch for
Arduino on github.

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This is the prototype of their stationary node.

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This is the prototype with a NetRad PCB.

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This is the prototype with Wi-Fi.

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This is the ﬁnal prototype.

Case Study 3

• The mobile node is also based on the Arduino with a
custom shield that includes a GPS module, SD card slot, and
Geiger counter input connector.
• The device gets mounted on a car and collects data every 5
seconds as the car drives around and saves it to the SD
card. The data then gets uploaded and mapped.
• There are close to a million data points now.

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This is the prototype of their mobile node.

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This is the ﬁrst prototype.

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This is an example of a node that is mounted on a vehicle.

Case Study 3

• The Arduino platform allowed them to learn a lot and also
to build out the hardware very quickly. They had working
hardware and custom PCBs about 1.5 weeks after they
started and proceeded to collect data.
• Stationary nodes: Have about 35 stationary nodes set up,
and the goal is to have 300 nodes up by the end of 2011
(with Keio University)
• Mobile nodes: Have approximately 20 mobile Geiger
counters deployed with volunteer drivers, mostly in
Fukushima prefecture. They are providing drives and
many are doing the drives daily, full-time.
• They're designing the next versions of the Geiger counters
based on Linux.

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Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace | Challenges
• The main one is getting enough money to buy the
hardware to build everything out (now getting better).
• The other big challenge is the diversity of domain
knowledge required to do all of this: hardware design,
ﬁrmware, protocol stacks, web design, database admin, and
visualization (they're currently in need of help).

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Case Study 3

Safecast/Tokyo Hackerspace | Future
• They think independent radiation monitoring should be
done at all nuclear facilities just to keep the operators
honest, and it'd be nice to scale the project so that it's not
Japan only.
• They were able to see ﬁrsthand how OSHW could be used
for serious applications that could save lives: there will be
open source hardware and software created for future
disasters that could be rolled out immediately to places in
need (they're trying to do that in Tokyo Hackerspace).

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Challenges and Possibilities

Summary
• With utilizing Open Hardware, we can develop prototypes
of radiation monitoring tools in a short term.
• Online web services such as Pachube are helpful to share
open data.
• Since the whole activities and projects are extremely cross-
domain, it's diﬃcult to manage and execute quickly.
• There will be many possibilities of Open Hardware for our
daily life and serious situations such as disasters.

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Thank you very much for listening
and please give me suggestions!

http://geigermaps.jp
@kotobuki

Special thanks to: Haiyan Zhang, Tokyo Hackerspace, Yang Stone and David Siren Eisner

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