Kohli et al. (2026) Beyond Helium-3: Instruments for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Based on Boron-10 Neutron Detectors

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Instruments
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-05-21
• Authors: M. A. Kohli, Jannis Weimar
• DOI: 10.3390/instruments10020031

Research Groups

Not specified

Short Summary

The paper presents a modular family of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) instruments based on boron-10-lined proportional counters designed for autonomous, low-power soil moisture monitoring.

Objective

• To develop and validate a scalable, cost-efficient, and low-power alternative to traditional CRNS sensors for long-term field operation.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field scale (various settings)
• Temporal Scale: Long-term deployments

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Boron-10-lined proportional counters; frontend electronics utilizing pulse-height and pulse-length discrimination for noise suppression.
• Data sources: Field deployment data, telemetry, and external SDI-12 environmental sensors.

Main Results

• Achieved high energy efficiency, with the latest generation consuming approximately 50 mW, enabling solar-powered operation.
• Successfully suppressed non-neutron background and electronic noise using pulse-height and pulse-length information.
• Validated the system's performance through long-term field deployments in diverse environments.

Contributions

• Introduces a modular hardware architecture that reduces power consumption and cost compared to traditional scientific nuclear equipment used in CRNS, facilitating the expansion of monitoring networks.

Funding

Not specified

Citation

@article{Kohli2026Beyond,
  author = {Kohli, M. A. and Weimar, Jannis},
  title = {Beyond Helium-3: Instruments for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Based on Boron-10 Neutron Detectors},
  journal = {Instruments},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/instruments10020031},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/instruments10020031}
}