Comparative Measurements of Cosmic Radiation Monitors for Aircrew Exposure Assessment

Various commercially available electronic personal dosimeters (EPDs) have recently been flown on numerous scheduled airline flights in order to determine their viability as small, convenient monitors to measure cosmic radiation at altitude. Often, frequent flyers or airline crew will acquire such dosimeters and report the readings from their flights, without due regard for the mixed radiation field at altitude, which is different from the intended fields on land. A sampling of EPDs has been compared to two types of spectrometers, which measure the total radiation spectrum. The “HAWK” tissue equivalent proportional counter is considered a reference instrument and measures the total dose equivalent H * (10). The Liulin-4N and 4SN linear energy transfer spectrometers each have a silicon semiconductor-based PIN diode detector which provides an absorbed dose, D, but have been further developed to provide H * (10). A Thermo Electron FH41B and B-10, and EPD-N2, and several personal dosimeters (Fuji NRY-21 and NRF-20, and RADOS DIS-100) were also flown.