title: Design of a radiation surveillance unit for an unmanned aerial vehicle.
abstract: This paper describes a prototype of a compact environmental radiation surveillance instrument designed for a Ranger unmanned aerial vehicle. The instrument, which can be used for tracking a radioactive plume, mapping fallout and searching for point sources, consists of three different detector types (GM, NaI(Tl) and CZT) and an air sampling unit. In addition to the standard electronics for data acquisition, the system contains an onboard computer, a GPS receiver and environmental sensors, all enclosed in a single housing manufactured of fiberglass-reinforced composite material. The data collected during the flight is transmitted in real-time to the ground station via a TETRA radio network. The radiation surveillance unit is an independent module and as such can be used in, for example, airplanes, helicopters and cars.
authors.affiliation: STUK--Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, P.O. Box 14, FI-00881 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurvinen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Smolander
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pöllänen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuukankorpi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kettunen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lyytinen
mesh_terms: D000060:Accidents, Aviation; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D000401:Aircraft; D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems; D004867:Equipment Design; D005387:Finland; D040362:Geographic Information Systems / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D008891:Military Science; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D012588:Scintillation Counting / Q000295:instrumentation; D012666:Semiconductors; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma / Q000295:instrumentation; D014741:Video Recording / Q000295:instrumentation
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D011847:Radioactive Fallout