A Comparison of Approaches to Short-Range Wireless Communications in Nuclear Facilities

As interest in unattended and automated monitoring increases in the fields of nuclear arms control, international nuclear safeguards, and nuclear materials management, technological concepts relying on wireless communications are discussed increasingly. In this paper we discuss the benefits of the potential applications of wireless communications along with the challenges in these environments. We then discuss five approaches to short-range wireless communications for use in nuclear facilities, including active radio frequency identification (RFID), passive RFID, low-frequency magnetic induction (RuBee), optical, and acoustic communications. Wireless monitoring devices could provide constant updates of inventory, active sealing, and sensing of area access without potentially challenging facility modifications to deliver power and networking infrastructure. Both active and passive radio frequency (RF) communications have been established in other fields, but are relatively new to use in nuclear facilities. Low-frequency magnetic induction communications is a fairly new technology that has been demonstrated in some applications and has some promise in being certified for use near explosives. Optical and acoustic communications are new concepts for short-range wireless communications that are currently being developed.