Advantages of a modular design approach for radiological instrumentation

The application of a modular design approach to the development and implementation of radiological instrumentation provides significant improvements over conventional instrument design in terms of capability, maintainability, and overall system costs. Two implementations utilizing this approach are discussed: a multifunction survey meter system developed for the US Navy RADIAC (radiation detection, indication and computation) program, and a stationary workplace monitoring system under development for use at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. By designing modular, functionally partitioned hardware and software subsystems incorporating standard interfaces, it is possible to generate whole families of instrumentation systems in a building block fashion