Correction of the radon exhalation rate using the Kalman filtering to reduce measurement errors

Abstract

The RAD7 detector is widely used for measuring the radon exhalation rate from the surfaces of media such as soil, rocks, and building materials. However, during the measurement process, the accuracy of the results is prone to interference due to the instrument's inherent statistical errors and environmental noise. To reduce these measurement errors, the Kalman filtering was introduced in this study to correct the radon exhalation rate, which was obtained through data fitting of radon concentration measured by the RAD7 detector. Ten verified experiments were performed with a radon exhalation standard device. The experimental result shows that 80 % of the radon exhalation rate, corrected by Kalman filtering, significantly approached the theoretical value of the standard device, compared to the uncorrected experimental results. It confirms the effectiveness of the Kalman filtering in correcting RAD7 measurements, thereby enhancing the accuracy of radon exhalation rate measurements. The proposed method provides a reference technical pathway for improving the measurement accuracy of similar radon measurement instruments.