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2014
Conference Paper
Titel
Air-bound measurements of radioactive material with swarm-behaved UAVs - the ANCHORS project
Abstract
In the project ANCHORS (UAV-Assisted Ad Hoc Networks for Crisis Management and Hostile Environment Sensing), a German-French consortium designs a system of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) which are partly equipped with sensors for detecting radioactive material and communicate by means of a self-sustained relay system. The UAVs are meant to operate in crisis areas inaccessible to human operators. Possible scenarios such an application would be suitable for are characterized by a considerably high level of danger for first responders, a limited access to a critical infrastructure because of a high degree of destruction, and limited communication options due to destroyed hardware. Such scenarios could be both man-made hazards such as an accident in a nuclear power plant and natural disasters. The system aims at fast and reliable exploration of a crisis scene including the localization and identification of potentially deposited radioactive material, thus leading to an appropriate crisis management. The project commenced in May 2012 and is scheduled to run for three years. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) and the French National Research Agency (ANR). The Fraunhofer INT's part of the consortium work includes support of the sensor development, measurements of the radiation hardness and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of the UAVs and the sensors as well as planning and realization of demonstration exercises of sensor measurements and the application of the entire system. A status report will be given, including first results of sensor measurements, radiation hardness measurements, and EMC measurements, all performed at Fraunhofer INT. The system components' radiation hardness and EMC must be tested in order to assure that the system is operational under conditions which may come along with a crisis scenario, such as a high level of radioactivity. Moreover, a possible crisis scenario may require the system to work under the influence of an elevated electromagnetic field strength, and the sensors need to work reliably under these conditions. The sensor measurements will make use of the irradiation facilities at Fraunhofer INT, namely a Co-60 source emitting gamma radiation. A scenario where radioactive material is deployed can be recreated this way, thus proving the practicability of the measurement system for detecting such material at this point of the project.
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