Paul Guss, Karen McCall, Russell Malchow, Rick Fischer, Michael Lukens, Mark Adan, Ki Park, Roy Abbott, Michael Howard, Eric Wagner, Clifford Trainham, Tanushree Luke, Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, Paul Oh, Pareshkumar Brahmbhatt, Eric Henderson, Jinlu Han, Justin Huang, Casey Huang, Jon Daniels
For nuclear disasters involving radioactive contamination, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs) equipped with nuclear radiation detection and monitoring capability can be very important tools. Among the advantages of a sUAS are quick deployment, low-altitude flying that enhances sensitivity, wide area coverage, no radiation exposure health safety restriction, and the ability to access highly hazardous or radioactive areas. Additionally, the sUAS can be configured with the nuclear detecting sensor optimized to measure the radiation associated with the event. In this investigation, sUAS platforms were obtained for the installation of sensor payloads for radiation detection and electro-optical systems that were specifically developed for sUAS research, development, and operational testing. The sensor payloads were optimized for the contour mapping of a nuclear radiation field, which will result in a formula for low-cost sUAS platform operations with built-in formation flight control. Additional emphases of the investigation were to develop the relevant contouring algorithms; initiate the sUAS comprehensive testing using the Unmanned Systems, Inc. (USI) Sandstorm platforms and other acquired platforms; and both acquire and optimize the sensors for detection and localization. We demonstrated contour mapping through simulation and validated waypoint detection. We mounted a detector on a sUAS and operated it initially in the counts per second (cps) mode to perform field and flight tests to demonstrate that the equipment was functioning as designed. We performed ground truth measurements to determine the response of the detector as a function of source-to-detector distance. Operation of the radiation detector was tested using different unshielded sources.
In July 2006, the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
initiated a new project in their remote sensing test and evaluation program. Upwelling and downwelling
radiance ground truth measurements have been advanced as a result of this project. Upwelling
radiance measurements are used for the spectral characterization of calibration targets, and downwelling
measurements are used to profile the temperature and moisture within the atmospheric column
above these targets. These measurements will be used for the development and improvement of
atmosphere compensations algorithms, as well as for the evaluation of the radiometric accuracy of
other remote sensing systems. In order to meet stringent wavelength and radiometric calibration
requirements, the selected technology is based on a Michelson interferometer spectrometer equipped
with an internal calibration unit. The proposed configuration facilitates precise radiometric accuracy
for target measurements, as well as concurrent temperature and moisture profiling of the atmosphere's
Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) above the target. In this paper we describe the instrument approach
and its configuration. We also present results demonstrating the instrument performance. Atmospheric
sounding results are compared to measurements made with other sounding systems at the ARM site in
Oklahoma.
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