title: TOWARDS A NOVEL MODULAR ARCHITECTURE FOR CERN RADIATION MONITORING.
abstract: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has the legal obligation to protect the public and the people working on its premises from any unjustified exposure to ionising radiation. In this context, radiation monitoring is one of the main concerns of the Radiation Protection Group. After 30 y of reliable service, the ARea CONtroller (ARCON) system is approaching the end of its lifecycle, which raises the need for new, more efficient radiation monitors with a high level of modularity to ensure better maintainability. Based on these two main principles, new detectors are currently being developed that will be capable of measuring very low dose rates down to 50 nSv h-1, whilst being able to measure radiation over an extensive range of 8 decades without any auto scaling. To reach these performances, CERN Radiation MOnitoring Electronics (CROME), the new generation of CERN radiation monitors, is based on the versatile architecture that includes new read-out electronics developed by the Instrumentation and Logistics section of the CERN Radiation Protection Group as well as a reconfigurable system on chip capable of performing complex processing calculations. Beside the capabilities of CROME to continuously measure the ambient dose rate, the system generates radiation alarms, provides interlock signals, drives alarm display units through a fieldbus and provides long-term, permanent and reliable data logging. The measurement tests performed during the first phase of the development show very promising results that pave the way to the second phase: the certification.
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hamza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boukabache
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pangallo
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gael
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ducos
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cardines
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellotta
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ciarán
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toner
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.affiliation: CERN, 385 route de Meyrin, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Forkel-Wirth
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing