A simple computerized timer for radiation sources

The University of Michigan administers the testing portion of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for personnel dosimetry processors using six different radiation sources. This paper reports that, in order to eliminate the potential for errors in the recording of dosimeter irradiation times, timing systems were set up for each source using Commodore 64 microcomputers and associated peripherals. Each timing system uses the microcomputer's analog-to-digital converter and internal clock to measure the amount of time that a source control circuit is energized. The accuracy of each microcomputer timing system is comparable to that of the electronic digital timers used to control the sources resulting in irradiation times that are known to within {plus minus}0.2%.