Radiation Alert Immediate Disclosure

Invocon's Radiation Alert Immediate Disclosure (RAID) system is a miniature, low-power, real-time, active radiation badge. It is designed for monitoring personnel, equipment, and environments while minimizing complicated user interfaces. RAID's ability to determine characteristics and dose rate in addition to total dose provide significant advantages over other types of devices. A single sensor provides information about all types of ionizing radiation in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of radiation environments. Many radiation health experts believe that dose rate is an important parameter in addition to total dose for determining tissue damage. The real-time nature of RAID enables personnel to respond proactively to radiation events in order to minimize damage to personnel and the equipment on which they depend. RAID's wireless interface provides advantages for interrogating badges in difficult or inconvenient locations. Examples include monitoring radiation exposure to personnel throughout Extra-Vehicular Activities, reading monitors installed behind equipment racks or in isolated modules, and automatically downloading radiation data from astronauts' badges to minimize their workload. Phase II for this program will result in the delivery of fieldable badges that NASA can use for a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO), terrestrial evaluation, or general use by NASA researchers.