Remote sensing of neutron and gamma radiation using aerial unmanned autonomous system

Abstract

The system based on unmanned aerial vehicles was designed for remote sensing of neutron and gamma radiation. A swarm of small-scale quadcopters with navigational and sensing capabilities was studied to perform radiation monitoring with dynamically tracked measurements that could be used for analysis and prognostics in temporal and space domains. A Cs <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> LiYCl <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sub> :Ce <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3+</sup> scintillation detector equipped with a digital data analysis system was developed for simultaneous gamma-ray spectroscopy and neutron sensing. Pulse shape discrimination was used to segregate neutron and photon signatures. The maximum likelihood estimation technique was employed to search for unattended radiation sources using the data obtained cooperatively by multiple UAVs.