Ryan Kim
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Research Mentor(s): Kimberlee Kearfott
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: NERS/BME / Engineering
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Ryan A Kim, Marlee E Trager, Andrew JE Kent, Jordan D Noey, Kimberlee J Kearfott
Presenter: 63
Abstract
An intelligent radiation-seeking drone is being designed with advanced path navigation based upon unique radiation mapping algorithms. Such a drone would be game-changing for situations involving the undesirable distribution of radionuclides in the environment resulting from mining, accidents, terrorism, and nuclear weapons. This specific work focusses on the development of hardware and software communications to enable full functionality of such a specialized drone. An algorithm is planned to optimize radiological sources mapping that requires an onboard computer to optimize travel based upon analysis of radiation measurements. The chosen open-source drone flight control firmware exists with drivers allowing sensors to function with remote control equipment, but is not appropriate for specialized ionizing radiation detectors. The available software also lacks the desired specialized computational functions and feedback loops to the flight controller essential for the proposed source location algorithm. This work seeks to develop robust and reliable communications between the sensors and drone allowing changes in navigation path in response to continuously improving information about radiation sources distributions. A universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) transmission system will be written to send data from a planned onboard Raspberry Pi 4 to the PixHawk4, the drone’s specialized computer. The sensor drivers for receiving data will be flashed onto the drone flight computer while the drivers allowing data transmission will be implemented on the Raspberry Pi. Successful communication will be noted based on recorded flight logs. The data sent from the Raspberry Pi will be compared for precise agreement with the data received by the flight controller to verify the communication functionality. The ultimate goal is to establish reliable communications. Wired connections will be tested to ensure vibration safety by replicating flight conditions and verifying the physical integrity. Wireless communications will be verified by ensuring minimal packet loss on drone and ground control software.
Engineering, Interdisciplinary
