Advacam’s MiniPIX EDU is a miniaturised USB camera designed and priced for educational use. It brings modern nuclear technology of radiation imaging to the classrooms and let students discover the unseen world of ionizing radiation surrounding them. Students can explore the origin of different types of radiation and see how radioactive isotopes travel in the nature and in the artificial environment of human houses, cities, industries. The same technology is used by NASA in space to monitor the radiation exposure by the astronauts.
Advacam’s MiniPIX EDU can record the small levels of radioactivity that is surrounding us. Students can see radioactivity of common materials and objects such as piece of ash, granite, paper bag from vacuum cleaner or face mask. They can explore the disparity of the air radioactivity during the day, hunt for cosmic muons and find their directions, explore how altitude affects presence of radiation types. They can prepare their own (safe) radioactive source and try to construct the shielding against radiation it emits. They can practically observe the laws of radioactive decay. Students can directly observe the way different radiation interact with matter.
All you need to do is to plug the MiniPIX EDU device to the USB port of your PC and start the software. Using the proprietary RadView radiation visualisation software fascinating images of ionizing particles will start appearing on your screen. The students can understand how people benefit of ionizing radiation and radioactivity. For further information and education examples, make sure to check out the other applications page.
The system can be used in imaging applications (e.g. X-ray or neutron imaging) and its ability to recognize individual particles, sort them to several groups (X-rays, electrons, neutrons, alphas etc.) and measure their energies is utilized as great advantage for radiation monitoring. All the major operating systems are supported (MS Windows, Mac OS and LINUX). The advanced software, PIXET PRO used for detector operation, is provided for free.
Sensor Material: Si
Sensor Thickness: 300 μm and 500 μm
Sensitive Area: 14 mm x 14 mm
Number of Pixels: 256 x 256
Pixel Pitch: 55 μm
Resolution: 9 lp/mm
Readout Speed: 55 frames/s
Threshold Step Resolution: 0.1 keV
Energy Resolution: 0.8 keV (THL) and 2 keV (ToT)
Min Detectable Energy: 5 keV for X-rays
Photon Counting Speed: up to 3 x 106 photons/s/pixel
Readout Chip: Timepix
Pixel Mode of Operation: Counting, Time-over-Threshold, Time-of-Arrival
Connectivity: USB 2.0
Dimensions: 89 mm x 21 mm x 10 mm (L x W x H)
Weight: 30 g
Software: Pixet PRO or ask for RadView radiation visualization software
NOTE: Laptop and cable not included. The detector has USB type-A which can be plugged in directly to your laptop.