Improved instrumentation in detecting and measuring radon concentrations is needed now to reduce the risk of radon-induced lung cancer for residents in an estimated 6-9 million United States homes. The application of state-of-the-art solid state detector technology will be investigated for the development of instrumentation to measure the concentration of radon and its decay products in indoor air. By digitizing data from nuclear particles and radiation close to the primary events, the measurement process becomes one of digital processing and, thus, avoids the variabilities of existing detectors. It is believed that the proposed instrument will exhibit low noise error, high reliability and durability even in extreme environments, i.e., all the intrinsic characteristics of solid state electronics. It is also believed that radon measurements will be faster, more accurate and simpler than with existing methods.
