The development of PANDOCA (Professional Aviation Dose Calculator) based on the Monte Carlo program package GEANT4 began in 2005. The first version that was verified with measurements taken during the transition of solar cycle 23 and 24 was released in 2009 and has been constantly improved since then. The impinging primary cosmic particles and their energy spectra, respectively, are described by the galactic cosmic ray model by Matthiä et al. (2013) - a modified ISO GCR model. The variation due to the solar modulation is modeled using the corresponding W-parameter (Matthiä et al., 2013). The transport through the magnetosphere is parameterized by the effective vertical cutoff rigidities Rc, which were calculated with the GEANT4 application PLANETOCOSMICS using the International Geomagnetic Reference Field model for 2005 (Maus & MacMillan, 2005). The propagation of the primary particles through the atmosphere and the generation of the respective secondary radiation field are described by the particle fluxes at a given altitude consisting of protons, neutrons, photons, e, e+, μ, μ+, π, and π+. These particle fluxes are converted into dose quantities using corresponding conversion factors, for details see Matthiä et al. (2014).
- Heliosphere / Inner Heliosphere
- Heliosphere / Outer Heliosphere
- High Latitude Ionosphere / Auroral Region
Space Weather Impacts
- Near-earth radiation and plasma environment (aerospace assets functionality)
- Solar energetic particles - SEPs (human exploration, aviation safety, aerospace assets functionality)
- Galactic cosmic rays - GCRs (human exploration, aviation safety, aerospace assets functionality)
- Matthiä, D., Meier, M. M., & Reitz, G. (2014), Numerical calculation of the radiation exposure from galactic cosmic rays at aviation altitudes with the PANDOCA core model, Space Weather, 12, 161171. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013SW001022
- Matthiä, D., Berger, T., Mrigakshi, A. I., & Reitz, G. (2013). A ready-to-use galactic cosmic ray model. Advances in Space Research, 51(3), 329338.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2012.09.022
- Meier, M. M., Copeland, K., Matthiä, D., Mertens, C. J., & Schennetten, K. ( 2018). First steps toward the verification of models for the assessment of the radiation exposure at aviation altitudes during quiet space weather conditions. Space Weather, 16, 1269-1276. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW001984
- Daniel Matthiae, DLR (Model Developer)
- Matthias Meier, DLR (Model Contact)
- Yihua Zheng, NASA GSFC CCMC (CCMC Model Host)
In addition to any model-specific policy, please refer to the General Publication Policy.