Radiological Surveillance Using a Fixed-Wing UAV Platform

Autor: Stef Geelen, Johan Camps, Geert Olyslaegers, Greet Ilegems, Wouter Schroeyers
Přispěvatelé: GEELEN, Stef, CAMPS, Johan, Olyslaegers, Geert, Ilegems, Greet, SCHROEYERS, Wouter
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Remote Sensing
Volume 14
Issue 16
Pages: 3908
ISSN: 2072-4292
DOI: 10.3390/rs14163908
Popis: A drone-detector system was designed, developed, and tested for radiological monitoring. The system was tailored to perform measurements during the threat, release, and post-release phases of a nuclear or radiological event. This allows the surveillance of large areas, with an autonomy of up to 12 h, in a large range of altitudes above ground level. The detector system was optimized for gamma spectroscopy, taking into account the available payload for maximum endurance and maximum detection efficiency using 'PENELOPE (2018)' Monte Carlo simulations. A generic methodology was used to derive quantitative information on radioactivity levels from the raw measured gamma-ray spectra at different altitudes. Based on the methodology, it was demonstrated that the drone-detector system can measure the concentration of potassium-40 (K-40) that is naturally present in the soil. These measurements complied within 30% of the soil sampling results taking into account the uncertainties. The functioning of the system was tested during test flights, which demonstrated that radionuclide identification and quantification of radioactivity concentrations are possible. This research was funded by the Belgian Federal Public Service Economy, SMEs, Selfemployed and Energy, under the Energy Transition Fund within the BUDDAWAK (Belgian unmanned aerial systems for Decommissioning, Detection and AWAreness of radioactive risK) project. Computer services used in this work were provided by the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government. We would also like thank Gaetan Verpoorten, Federico Bus, Alex Shaposhnik, Vincent Francois, Katrijn Vandersteen and Johan Paridaens for their insights and help with the measurements.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: