Radon Pollution in Educational Facilities: Investigating the Use of Digital Twins to Monitor and Control Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants

Each year, exposure to radon causes more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States. People can be exposed to radon as it enters buildings through cracks. The presence of radon in educational buildings can have a negative impact on students. Therefore, it is important to monitor radon levels in educational facilities. To accomplish this goal, a digital twin model of two offices was created to track indoor radon levels and provide suggestions for reducing them. Wireless sensors were used to measure the radon levels. Autodesk Revit was utilized to create a building information model, while Dynamo visual programming was employed to integrate the sensor data. With the assistance of Power BI, a dashboard was created to present the 3D model and visualize radon levels over time. Additionally, the dashboard sends alerts if the radon levels exceed the predetermined thresholds. By implementing this proposed approach, radon levels in the monitored rooms are expected to consistently remain below the established thresholds, thereby reducing students’ risk of lung cancer.