International Journal of Advancements in Technology
Open Access

Abstract

Design and optimization of CBRN sensors for application to drones

Francesca Fumian

Introduction:

In recent years we witnessed an increasing in the occurrence of events, both accidental or intentional, connected with the release of chemical, biological, radiological (CBRN) agents. In case of industrial incidents, or in the event of voluntary releases of improvised devices and dirty bombs during asymmetric conflicts, deployed first responders has to be duly equipped to assess the nature of the contamination. In response to the growing threat, a large number of detection equipment has been developed, both in civil and military environments. In parallel, the last few years have also been characterized by the development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), remotely controlled aircraft, for military and civil applications. This research project is aimed to reduce or possibly eliminate the exposure of personnel to an unknown contamination, by developing an UAV for safe observation and sampling of different matrices. This objective could be reached by sending one or more multi-sensor UAV, equipped with CBRN sensors, geo-localized, able to collect samples and to detect real-time contamination with an early survey. Once the CBRN incident is confirmed, after the analysis of samples collected in field, is likely to determine which kind of CBRN agent is involved and the level of contamination.

To design and optimize new equipment or adapt existing tools for the application to drones, some basic principles has to be considered:

low weight; low power consumption; low cost; affect the less possible the UAV aerodynamics; influence the less possible the contamination   fluid dynamics.

Conclusions:

Preliminary tests have been conducted to investigate the possibility to adapt miniaturized sensors to an UAV. Results obtained shown that this route offers a wide range of possibilities, such as the design of specific and interchangeable features to be applied on modular payload, adaptable time by time to the objective of the mission.

Published Date: 2020-11-04; Received Date: 2020-08-20