Description: Commercial aircrew members and frequent flyers face radiation hazards from the effects of cosmic rays and solar energetic particles. During significant solar events, dose rates can exceed safety thresholds. To mitigate the radiation dose rate and total dose hazards, a unique, state-of-the-art system of physics-based models and real-time data characterizing the aviation radiation environment called Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety (NAIRAS) is undergoing development. However, validation of the NAIRAS system must occur to provide confidence that accurate nowcasts, and eventually forecasts, can be made for the aviation radiation environment. The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aviation Safety (ARMAS) project will provide that validation in a cost-effective manner. The Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) radiation detector measures the rate and total quantities of absorbed dose and dose equivalent during aircraft flights. These measurements help estimate the biological risk associated with radiation exposure to humans. Up to three flights of TEPC will be flown during the first half of the performance period. The flight regimes are designed to test a range of representative radiation environments. TEPC results will be analyzed in the second half of the performance period and compared with NAIRAS to validate modeled flight profile results.

Benefits: The identified customer of ARMAS is the NAIRAS system. NAIRAS identified customers are the commercial airline industry (airline corporations, aircrew professional associations, and frequent flyer customers), the FAA, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and NOAA/SWPC. Most major U.S. commercial air carriers, along with the airline pilots and flight attendants professional unions, have strongly supported an active, and accurate, radiation exposure risk specification capability. ARMAS in Phase III will provide the accuracy and timeliness of measurements that can be assimilated into advanced physics-based models for global effective dose rate specification and radiation risk mitigation. The ARMAS commercialization strategy will first obtain ambient dose equivalent rates using TEPC and will validate the NAIRAS system results in Phase I. In Phase II we will develop a prototype system to include aircraft measurements retrieved through services (TAMDAR-like) for data assimilation into NAIRAS. Once a TRL 8 system is demonstrated at the end of Phase II, we will expand the number of TEPC-equipped aircraft with the objective of global aviation radiation risk mitigation.

NASA has a demonstrated interest in quality, cutting-edge research that leads to revolutionary capabilities for the airspace system and the aircraft that fly within it. Aviation safety has been a strong concern for those developing the nation's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), particularly in the area of technologies for improved aviation crew safety. ARMAS, when automated and operational in Phase III will provide data for assimilation into the NAIRAS system and will facilitate a safer and more efficient air transportation system. ARMAS will enable the airline industry, crew, frequent flyers, and FAA to more quickly and accurately mitigate radiation exposure risk due to cosmic rays and solar energetic particle events.