Radiation Search Operations using Autonomous UAVs and UGVs

A special issue of Drones (ISSN 2504-446X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 September 2024) | Viewed by 802

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Interests: UAV design; aerial radiation sensing and localization

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Interests: radiation sensing; localization and mapping

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Interests: nuclear energy; radiation physics; reactor accidents

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The use of autonomous agents in radioactive field surveys has numerous benefits, including an inherent capability to account for stochastic emissions and enhanced safety for first responders when using uncrewed systems. Onboard computational power on custom-designed drones is capable of providing rapid source localization and classification information to incident commanders when decision making is time critical. Scheduled surveys to detect anomalies in safety critical areas such as ports of entry or contaminated sites can be accomplished with minimal supervision using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) or uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs). These are a few examples in radioactive material searches where autonomous uncrewed systems have a distinct advantage over manual search methods.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight new applications in radioactive material detection, localization and classification using uncrewed agents equipped with scintillation-type detectors or particulate samplers, depending on the use case.

Research articles are solicited in the following areas of autonomous radioactive search:

  1. Detection and localization algorithms;
  2. Payload integration and operation;
  3. Machine learning applications;
  4. Spatial domain estimation methods;
  5. Vehicle design;
  6. Multi-agent search;
  7. UAV or UGV active and passive sensing methods;
  8. Data fusion;
  9. Online and networked systems;
  10. Novel applications of sensors and vehicles.

Dr. Kevin Kochersberger
Dr. Quiter Brian J.
Dr. Peter Martin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • radiation
  • localization
  • UAV
  • UGV
  • sensor
  • incident

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Published Papers

There is no accepted submissions to this special issue at this moment.
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