A Contemporary Method For Monitoring Indoor Radon and Environmental Conditions at a Remote Test Site

A state-of-the-art method for automatically monitoring indoor radon and environmental conditions at a remote test site is described. A Wisconsin home that exhibited elevated radon levels has been installed with an automated PC-data acquisition system (PC-DAS) that includes: a laptop PC, a data acquisition cardcage, a commercial data acquisition software programme plus sensors to measure radon gas concentrations, differential pressures, indoor air quality and meteorological conditions. The isolated PC-DAS is connected to a PC in a university laboratory via a modem and a communications software package. Experimental data is monitored and saved by the remote PC in real time and then automatically downloaded to the laboratory computer at selected intervals. An example of the formatted field results is presented and analysed. This documentation of the set-up, the off-the-shelf computer hardware and software, and the procedures should assist investigations requiring flexible remote long-term radon and environmental monitoring.