Troubleshooting tips
      Back to home
      1. Digital Help Center
      2. Troubleshooting tips

      NetDose IT Perspective

      The article delves into the specifics of IT items related to the NetDose dosimeter and the mobile app.

      Overview

      This document is intended for IT/Network Administrators to help them understand the Thermo Scientific™ NetDose™ dosimetry system to successfully deploy it on their network. NetDose is a dosimetry service provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific for customers who need to monitor occupational radiation dosage information for their employees. The NetDose service consists of:

      • Dosimeters: IoT (Internet of Things) wearable devices that measure radiation dosage

      • Mobile Application: collects dose information from dosimeters over the BLE (5.0) and transfers it to the Cloud servers (AWS IoT Core) that provide the WebUI

      • Web User Interface (WebUI).

        small pic email v3 Easy Wear, Digital Badge Image

      NetDose Dosimeter

      • Has a dose calculation microcontroller and a BLE communication processor. 

        • The dose calculation microcontroller and BLE communication module firmware can be updated over the air if needed.

      NOTE: The dose collection function will stop for few seconds when the dose calculation micro-controller firmware is updated.

      • Can be uniquely identified by its serial number. 

      • Communication from the dosimeter to the Mobile App over BLE is authenticated and encrypted using asymmetric cryptography (public/private keys).

      • Saves daily dose data to its internal memory. The internal memory capacity is 128 kbytes and is enough to save hourly dose history for more than 6 months.

        • Read on-demand by pressing the read button (the only button).

          button and LEDs pt2

      • Does not store any customer or wearer personal information in its memory. The dosimeter only stores measured radiation dose information in its memory.

      • Relies on the Mobile App for communicating dose information to the cloud Web UI. 

      • The range for a dosimeter to communicate with the Mobile App depends on the mobile device.

      • Relies on BLE wireless technologies. Other strong radio signals nearby can interfere in the wireless technology. Heavy steel (Elevator shaft) in between the dosimeter and the mobile device can also reduce the wireless range.

      • Synchronization with the mobile app can take anywhere between 5 to 10 seconds. It can take longer if the dosimeter was not read for a long time (lot of dose history size to be synchronized). If there is a firmware update this will increase the length of the synchronization.

      • Should be read by the mobile app at least once a month.

      NetDose Mobile App

      The Mobile App is available for iOS and Android platform. NetDose Mobile App performs the function of a gateway on a smart phone.

      The Mobile App:

      • Requires a valid login/password to function. 

      • Synchronizes dosimeter dose history and configuration with the cloud Web UI. 

      • Only communicates with the dosimeter belonging to the same account as the user login. 

      • Does not store any dose history or dosimeter configuration on the smart phone. 

      • Communicates to the Dosimeter over BLE 5.0, which is FCC and CE certified.

      • Supports Android version 15.0 or above, iOS version 13 or above, and BLE 5.0.

      • Can be used to update the Dosimeter. 

      NetDose Mobile App on Cellular Network

      NetDose Mobile App on Wifi Hotspot

      NetDose WebUI

      The NetDose Web UI is the cloud web solution used by the end user to view dose reports and manage their service. Web UI cloud services are also used by the Mobile App to synchronize dose history information and configuration with dosimeter.

      The Web UI:

      • Uses login/password for users to access the website.
      • Manages dosimeter configuration using the web interface. 
      • Can generate email and text notification for end users on alerts based on dose or other equipment malfunction. 
      • Uses only encrypted channels (HTTPS/MQTT) for all communication. 
      • Uses AWS infrastructure to provide high availability and reliability.      

       BLE communication

      • The Dosimeter and the Mobile App uses BLE 5.0 for communication.
      • The dosimeter only turns on its BLE radio for a manual read (by pushing the button on the dosimeter).
      • The dosimeter, after turning on its BLE radio, broadcasts itself for a mobile device in the vicinity to identify the dosimeter. To make a read you also need to initiate synchronization on the app.
      • When the app identifies a dosimeter that belongs to the same account (using the BLE Mac address), the app prompts the user to enter serial number to complete BLE connection to the dosimeter.  The user only has to enter serial number once unless the dosimeter is removed from the mobile devices' Bluetooth device list.
      • The user enters their login credentials, and they are authenticated via the web server.
      • App then authenticates the dosimeter over the BLE connection. 
      • Once authenticated, the app updates the time and configuration on the dosimeter. 
      • After updating the time and configuration on the dosimeter, the app reads any unread dose information from the dosimeter. 
      • The app, after completing all reads, sends an end of session message to the dosimeter. 
      • The dosimeter, after receiving the end of session message from the app, turns off the BLE radio and only turns on the radio when a manual read is requested by pushing the button.

      Network Setup Options

      • During the BLE session, if the communication was terminated unexpectedly (e.g. out of range), before the final “End of session” message from the app, the dosimeter does not turn off its radio and continues to advertise itself for the app to connect. 
      • When no connection is made from the app, the dosimeter retries broadcasting for a short period at different times for the next 24-hour period. 
      • After the 24 hours attempt for the dosimeter to connect to the app, if no app connected, the read is considered failed, and the dosimeter turns off the BLE radio.  The dosimeter will then make its next read when manually read through the app. 

      Security & privacy

      The following measures are in place to meet the security and privacy requirements of our customers.

      Dosimeter

      • No personal information is stored on the dosimeter.
      • Each dosimeter is secured with a unique private/public key pair to authenticate and secure any communication with the Mobile App over the BLE. 
      • Dosimeter radio is turned off and only turned on when communication is required.