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The team of scientists at Purdue University in the United States are developing the Distributed Nuclear Detection by Ubiquitous Cell Phone system, which it is estimated could be fitted to phones for as little as $100.

Current systems to detect radiation are expensive and can therefore be deployed only in limited numbers. However, a distributed system of sensors implanted in mobile phones would be able to triangulate the position of any suspicious radioactive source wherever it was in the country. The highest concentration of equipped phones would naturally fall in the cities, coincidentally where an attack is most likely.

The researchers are currently attempting to convince the US government of the importance of such a tool, suggesting that the sensors could become mandatory or that customers could be paid to use such phones.

The team at Purdue are not alone in developing such a distributed system. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is working on RadNet, and a commercial project is underway by US company Gentag.