They are tools for search and rescue, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, and perhaps even package hauling.
In the study to assess drones for radiological detection, researchers conducted an experiment at an open field on the PNNL campus in Richland, Washington. The experiment compared the ability of a flying drone carrying radiological survey equipment with the same survey equipment secured to a rolling cart. The cart was chosen because it could best mimic human-collected data to compare with the flying drone.
The flying drone and its rolling imitator traveled the same prescribed path, looking for the same radiological elements that researchers had placed on the field: small samples of cobalt-60 , cesium-137 , and americium-241 . “At most decommissioning sites, we are looking at very low levels of radiation,” said Gadey, a study author who played a key role in crafting the experiment while he was still a postdoc. “We need to be as close to the ground as possible, going as slow as possible to detect some of these very low levels of radiation. For a drone, flying low and slow is not typical.”