Performance of the EPD-N2 dosemeter for monitoring aircrew doses

United States Air Force (USAF) aircrew fly at altitudes and for durations where doses from cosmic radiation are significant enough to warrant monitoring. This study evaluated a candidate radiological monitoring system for USAF aircrew, the Thermo Scientific electronic personnel dosemeter (EPD-N2). The evaluation consisted of characterising the device in a well-characterised radiation field at a European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) accelerator, and aboard an USAF aircraft. The performance of the EPDs was evaluated by comparison with accepted values for dose at the CERN facility, comparison with the value calculated by flight dose software and comparison with the value estimated by a tissue-equivalent proportional counter aboard the aircraft. This study recommends that a correction factor of 1/CF = 1/3.9 be applied to EPD-N2 measurements aboard aircraft flights. The uncertainty in this correction factor is 11.8 %.