Japanese carrier shows off radiation-monitoring smartphone case

NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone carrier, is known for developing some pretty interesting technologies. Take the mobile phone with human-like skin, or the real-time speech translation the company is working on, for instance. After the detrimental 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami hit Japan back in March, cooling systems at the Fukushima power plant were knocked out, resulting in meltdowns that sent radioactive materials into the air, water, and earth. There are still areas near Fukushima that remain high with levels of radiation.
NTT DoCoMo is working on a radiation monitoring technology that would simply slide onto your phone, just like any other smartphone cover. The company showed off its prototype to an estimated 200,000 visitors at the annual Ceatec (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) tradeshow currently taking place in Japan.

The mobile phone cover can gauge the amount of airborne radiation levels. NTT DoCoMo’s communication device development department Assistant Manager, Kouki Hayahi, said the cover is still in development, and that the company is still looking into ways in which it can be used. He suggested it could be used by a mother with a young child who could measure the amounts of radiation at local parks or on the way to school.
NTT DoCoMo is said to be working on three other interchangeable cases: One that would determine if the user has bad breath or smells like alcohol; one that checks the levels of skin-damaging ultraviolet light; and one that will measure body fat and muscle bulk.
Check out the video from InvestorSpot’s Penn Olsen to get a glimpse of the cover and some of the other prototypes NTT DoCoMo was showing at the tradeshow.

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