Design and testing of indigenous cost effective three dimensional radiation field analyser (3D RFA)

The aim of the study is to design and validate an indigenous three dimensional Radiation Field Analyser (3D RFA). The feed system made for X, Y and Z axis movements is of lead screw with deep ball bearing mechanism made up of stain less steel driven by stepper motors with accuracy less than 0.5 mm. The telescopic column lifting unit was designed using linear actuation technology for lifting the water phantom. The acrylic phantom with dimensions of 800 x 750 x 570 mm was made with thickness of 15 mm. The software was developed in visual basic programming language, classified into two types, viz. beam analyzer software and beam acquisition software. The premeasurement checks were performed as per TG 106 recommendations. The physical parameters of photon PDDs such as Dmax, D10, D20 and Quality Index (QI), and the electron PDDs such as R50, Rp, E0, Epo and X-ray contamination values can be obtained instantaneously by using the developed RFA system. Also the results for profile data such as field size, central axis deviation, penumbra, flatness and symmetry calculated according to various protocols can be obtained for both photon and electron beams. The result of PDDs for photon beams were compared with BJR25 supplement values and the profile data were compared with TG 40 recommendation. The results were in agreement with standard protocols.