Ionizing Radiation Sensor for Nanosatellites, Microdrones and Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles

The purpose of this paper is to present an ionizing radiation sensor suitable for nanosatellites, small drones and other types of unmanned vehicles. When implemented on an airborne or ground-based unmanned vehicle the sensor is beneficial in disaster management scenarios such as inspection of buildings and facilities for ionizing radiation contamination and measurements of the ionizing radiation dose. Herein, a design and laboratory tests of the sensor are presented. The instrument is a lightweight module having low power consumption suitable for nanosatellite platforms and for mobile use by having it installed in an unmanned system (airborne or ground-based). For test purposes a 36-rotor drone was developed along with a mobile ground based unmanned vehicle. With all implementations the radiological sensor is directly connected to the main processor unit of the platform. In the case of the drone and ground-based vehicle systems the processor unit is the microcontroller of the autopilot. Experimental results of laboratory measurements of different radiation sources are shown and discussed. The experimental setup demonstrates a few advances related to specific problems encountered in the existing ionizing radiation measurement systems.