  The last decade has witnessed the development of several alternative neutron
detector technologies, as a consequence of upcoming neutron sources and
upgrades, as well the world-wide shortage of $^3$He. One branch of development
is the family of $^{10}$B-based gaseous detectors. This work focuses on the
boron coated straws (BCS) by Proportional Technologies Inc., a commercial
solution designed for use in homeland security and neutron science. A detailed
Geant4 simulation study of the BCS is presented, which investigates various
aspects of the detector performance, e.g. efficiency, activation, absorption
and the impact of scattering on the measured signal. The suitability of the BCS
detector for Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), direct chopper spectrometry
and imaging is discussed.
