In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for noninvasive beam size monitoring on particle accelerators. Ideally, these monitors should be cost effective and require little or no maintenance. These monitors should also be suitable for both linear and circular machines. Here, the experimental setup is described in detail, and the results from a diffraction radiation beam size monitor are presented. This monitor has been tested on the Cornell Electron Storage Ring using a 1 mA (1.6×10^{10} particles per bunch) single bunch electron beam at 2.1 GeV energy. Images of the target surface and the angular distribution of the emitted diffraction radiation were acquired at wavelengths of 400 and 600 nm. These measurements are compared to two analytical models.