Drone-borne gamma-ray
Why going for unmanned aerial gamma-ray sensing?
There is a strong growth of interest in UAV-borne geophysical surveying. Not so much to replace “standard” airborne geophysics, but as a cost-effective replacement of land borne work. At Medusa, we’ve been getting several inquiries by people and companies active in geophysics asking what the options are in using gamma-ray spectrometers on a UAV platform.
https://youtu.be/598s1tmK2OI?si=ZBFb1JbUlauc4ZWP
Our development
We developed a new series of rugged, low-weight detector systems, among others, aimed at UAV applications. Our new sensor series is optimized to achieve the lowest possible system weight and power consumption, while maintaining maximum detector performance. We’ve done this by thoroughly assessing each component of a gamma-ray detector system. Among others:
Using MCNP computer modelling to get the optimum size and shape of the sensor’s sensitive part (the scintillator crystal);
Integrating power supply, high-voltage, readout, data processing, storage and I/O into a single low-power PCB board;
Embedding data acquisition, viewing and processing all onto the embedded computer system;
Using ultra-strong, lightweight materials for housing and connectors of the sensor.
And we came up with a new series of sensors: the Medusa MS-series of detectors. We strongly believe that with our new series of detectors, we open the door to UAV-borne gamma-ray surveying. Our new series of gamma-ray sensors are fully self-contained and can flawlessly be used for autonomous monitoring and prospecting missions.
The proof of the pudding
A new technological development is nice, but it only shows its value in a successful application. We mounted our system under a drone for mapping a crop-field located in the Netherlands. The project was conducted in collaboration with the university of Wageningen and Wageningen Environmental Research.
The measurements showed that the technology works and that the MS drone sensor can be used for high quality mapping of the mineral composition of soils. The drone based survey yielded similar results as the ground borne measurements, and both compare well to soil samples that were taken for validation.
Contents
Please also check the pages below this page for more in-depth examples of drone-borne gamma-ray surveying