Using COTS Technology to Replace GM Tube Technology

Ionizing radiation causes a wide range of medical effects depending on the radiation dose, duration of exposure, and health of the individual. Therefore, radiation measurement instruments are used in various situations and applications to assure the safety of the people possibly affected, including the war fighters. The Geiger-Müller tube (or GM tube) technology that has traditionally been used for this purpose is becoming expensive to procure for large scale deployment and requires a high voltage circuitry and multiple tubes to cover the dose rate range of interest. The team of AQUILA and Kromek has developed a replacement technology for GM tubes that uses solid-state detectors that are rad hard and are able to measure dose rates that are relevant to military environments both before and after nuclear events. This project will enclose this solid-state detector technology into a commercially manufacturable instrument and run this product through a series of tests, including survivability in high gamma and neutron radiation fields, demonstrating accuracy and precision of dose rate readings before and after such events, and withstanding the environmental and electromagnetic interference environments required of typical of military instruments.