Uncertainty Estimation of the Dose Rate in Real-Time Applications Using Gaussian Process Regression

Major standard organizations have addressed the issue of reporting uncertainties in dose rate estimations. There are, however, challenges in estimating uncertainties when the radiation environment is considered, especially in real-time dosimetry. This study reports on the implementation of Gaussian process regression based on a spectrum-to-dose conversion operator (i.e., G(E) function), the aim of which is to deal with uncertainty in dose rate estimation based on various irradiation geometries. Results show that the proposed approach provides the dose rate estimation as a probability distribution in a single measurement, thereby increasing its real-time applications. In particular, under various irradiation geometries, the mean values of the dose rate were closer to the true values than the point estimates calculated by a G(E) function obtained from the anterior–posterior irradiation geometry that is intended to provide conservative estimates. In most cases, the 95% confidence intervals of uncertainties included those conservative estimates and the true values over the range of 50–3000 keV. The proposed method, therefore, not only conforms to the concept of operational quantities (i.e., conservative estimates) but also provides more reliable results.