Intersoft's Project Ara Modules: Radiation Sensor, Multi SIM
The great thing about the Project Ara modular smartphone idea is that the very thing you use to play Clash of Clans could very well be the same thing that saves your life. A smartphone for every day use can, with a few swaps here and there, turn into a portable med lab or, in this case, a radiation sensing instrument to warn users of danger. The latter will be thanks to a new module that Russian tech company Intersoft has been developing. And it isn't the only thing it has in the works either.
Called the DO-RA.Modul, for Dosimeter-Radiometer and has nothing to do with a popular cartoon character, the module incorporates a silicon sensor that does the measurment of radiation levels in a surrounding area. On an Ara smartphone, with an Android app also developed by Intersoft, the module can be used not just in industrial cases like workers near nuclear plants but even for everyday uses, like plane travelers and employees, who receive a higher than normal radiation dose during flight.
The module comes in all of Ara's three standard module sizes, making it possible to fit not just any scenario but any device as well. A project Ara device, of course. With modules like this, it will be possible to augment, but probably not totally replace, more dedicated but also more expensive equipment like Geiger counters where the use of such instruments are inconvenient, if not down right impossible.
Along with this DO-RA.Modul, Intersoft is also developing a dual SIM module, which could be a hot sell in its home country, where dual SIM smartphones are more common. Details of this module, however, are still scarce at this point.
Intersoft might also be eying a modular smartwatch, though the image shared on the Ara developers forum is more of a concept than an actual product. It definitely takes after Project Ara, almost quite literally. It might take some time before Google would even start considering a smartwatch Ara spinoff, but there are definitely others, like Bloks, who are ready to take the lead.
SOURCE: Phonebloks