Topographic Geographic Information System Mapping as Approach to Reducing Region of Interest for Radiation Detection by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Overview

In the aftermath of large-scale radiation release, spatial distributions and quantities of released radionuclides must be established as a crucial aspect of response management in order to inform on-site incident management strategies and evacuation plans. Recently, radiation monitoring systems based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been widely studied and employed. Estimation of the distribution of radiation distribution on a map is important, as it reduces the region of interest (ROI) for fi eld characterization and source localization. This informs people of possible radiation hotspots and also results in more efficient airborne radiation mapping. This project analyzes radiation distribution patterns to find trends that help predict hotspots--reducing the ROI--and tests the accuracy of the identifi ed regions. It was hypothesized that use of an ROI would significantly decrease the land area surveyed through UAV, with accuracy. Trends were compiled from previous research and hotspots were identified within a 100 kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Two groups were identified: the control group, which was the map not reduced, and the experiment group, the map with specified ROIs. Radiation doses were taken from both groups and entered into an ANOVA calculator. Doses within the ROI group were significantly higher than the control group (P=.006). Furthermore, the land area of the ROI map (3743 km^2) was 66% lower than the control map (14689 km^2). This presents a method of using topographic maps in order to reduce the ROI for radiation monitoring by unmanned aerial vehicles.