Optimal Sensor Launching with UAVs for Monitoring of Hazardous Environments

Optimal Sensor Launching with UAVs for Monitoring of Hazardous Environments

Optimal Sensor Launching with UAVs for Monitoring of Hazardous Environments 150 150 UKAEA Opendata
UKAEA-RACE-CP(23)05

Optimal Sensor Launching with UAVs for Monitoring of Hazardous Environments

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have been shown to improve data gathering processes over large spacial and temporal scales at a low cost [1], as well as the automation of decision making processes in complex industrial settings [2]. The nuclear sector is no exception to this, being obvious applications structural health monitoring [3] and radiation monitoring [4]. While the greatest level of integration of such systems can be achieved during reactor construction, the nuclear energy field has an abundance of research or legacy reactors that need to be fitted with such systems as deemed necessary. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for such tasks is unintrusive and safe, as it can be performed remotely, and has been successfully demonstrated for different applications [5]–[7]. Here, we further propose the deployment of said networks in cluttered environments by launching the sensors from on-board a UAV towards desired targets. This method was first proposed for cluttered environments in [8] and we hereby expand on the subjects of sensor trajectory modeling and clutter-aware optimal trajectory planning. This method is shown to be robust to clutter using minimal perception and computational power, making it ideal for use in cluttered environments where the usage of large aerial manipulators is not possible. Further contributions from this work are the real time calculation of accurate sensor launching trajectories and a method to make these trajectories invariant to the launched payload.

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International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Las Vegas, USA, 25-29 October 2020