Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
RSim: A Simulation Tool Integrating Radiation Codes and CAD.
Project Description
Tech-X will develop a standalone cross-platform application RSim. This application will have a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for performing common radiation transport simulations. Without the need to write code in C++ or Fortran and inputs for models, users of RSim will be able to set up the radiation environment, geometry and materials of the analyzed system, choose the analysis type (tallies), run simulations and perform visualization of the simulation results. RSim will be use two simulation engines: Geant4 and MCNP6. RSim will be integrated with the Computer Aided Design (CAD) by supporting CAD data import and translating it into the format understood by the underlying codes. In addition to providing the traditional geometry support used in these code, we will also implement the DAGMC technology under development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that would allow us to improve simulations performance.RSim will provide a unique innovative combination of features: (1) validated support for CAD needed for integration with CAD tools, (2) a cross-platform standalone GUI application working with two radiation codes, Geant4 and MCNP6 and (3) unified visualization of setups and simulations outputs.
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Anticipated Benefits
NASA Manned Exploration Missions will benefit from the proposed development, as RSim will streamline design of shielding strategies. Examples of such programs are International Space Station, Orion Spacecraft system, and NASA Commercial Crew Program. Second area of applications with NASA is Space Radiation Detector Simulation. For example, SUDA (SUrface Dust Analyzer) is an instrument under development at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, CU, Boulder. SUDA is approved for the upcoming Europa mission, and Tech-X is performing Geant4-based radiation modeling for the SUDA detector (see Sec. 2.3). In fact, working on this project provided us with the motivation for RSim. Other NASA design activities face the same challenges in their modeling. For example, we are in communication with JPL engineers, who routinely perform comparisons between different radiation models.
Radiation analysis for defense satellites (DOD) Designers developing defense satellites faces the same challenges as designers of commercial satellites. That is, one needs to minimize radiation effects on electronics and the payload. These challenges can be directly addressed by RSim. National Laboratories RSim will be used in detector modeling simulations routinely performed at FNAL, ANL, SLAC, BNL, SNL and ORNL. Some of these laboratories (SNL, for example) design and launch satellites, and Tech-X has worked on radiation modeling for one their payloads. They were particularly interested in comparing results from Geant4 to their independent studies (using ITS) and will benefit from RSim, as it will facilitate such comparisons between different Monte Carlo codes. Radiation Therapy Modern cancer treatment uses radiation transport simulations to help radiotherapists and clinical physicists better understand and compute radiation dose from imaging devices and design new devices. RSim will allow physicians to perform comparison between models and do this very efficiently. Global radiation detection, monitoring and safety industry Radiation transport simulations are routinely use to design new radiation detection devices are designed and analyze their data. RSim will facilitate these activities. More »
Radiation analysis for defense satellites (DOD) Designers developing defense satellites faces the same challenges as designers of commercial satellites. That is, one needs to minimize radiation effects on electronics and the payload. These challenges can be directly addressed by RSim. National Laboratories RSim will be used in detector modeling simulations routinely performed at FNAL, ANL, SLAC, BNL, SNL and ORNL. Some of these laboratories (SNL, for example) design and launch satellites, and Tech-X has worked on radiation modeling for one their payloads. They were particularly interested in comparing results from Geant4 to their independent studies (using ITS) and will benefit from RSim, as it will facilitate such comparisons between different Monte Carlo codes. Radiation Therapy Modern cancer treatment uses radiation transport simulations to help radiotherapists and clinical physicists better understand and compute radiation dose from imaging devices and design new devices. RSim will allow physicians to perform comparison between models and do this very efficiently. Global radiation detection, monitoring and safety industry Radiation transport simulations are routinely use to design new radiation detection devices are designed and analyze their data. RSim will facilitate these activities. More »
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech-X Corporation | Lead Organization | Industry | Boulder, Colorado |
Johnson Space Center
(JSC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Houston, Texas |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
Colorado
-
Texas
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