D8.2 – Robot-deployed radiation mapping

Brief description of functionality/utility:

A methodology has been developed for rapidly surveying large areas. First, fixed wing drones are used to conduct a lowresolution (higher altitude) survey of a large area. Hotspots and areas of interest are then scanned at a higher resolution by multi-rotor drones, at lower altitudes. The radiation data can be used to annotate 3D models of the terrain. These models are built from camera images from the drones. NCNR has funded the University of Bristol team to carry out pioneering drone surveys at the Fukushima and Chernobyl disaster sites. Similar approaches have been used to map the radiation on waste objects (e.g. spent fuel rod skips) by deploying radiation sensors on a robot arm which moves the sensors around the objects, annotating a 3D object model with radiation data.