Unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with spectroscopic CdZnTe detector for detection and identification of radiological and nuclear material

Localization and identification of nuclear and radiological material are main issues in case of nuclear accident or terrorist attack. In these cases, the use of a unmanned aerial vehicle would be highly recommended in order to preserve the safety of the human operators. For this purpose, we have integrated a compact, light, low power operating, CZT-based gamma ray detector on a commercially available UAV. The system allows exploration of potentially dangerous areas without a close exposure of the human operator. The operator is able to provide motion commands to the UAV while receiving force feedback from a 3DOF haptic interface. Force feedback provides an attractive basin around the location of the most intense detected radiation. A field experiment has been carried out and a ¹⁹²Ir nuclear source has been localized and identified exploiting the novel teleoperation system.