Numerical Fluid Dynamics Simulation for Drones’ Chemical Detection

Abstract

The risk associated with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNe) threats in the last two decades has grown as a result of easier access to hazardous materials and agents, potentially increasing the chance for dangerous events. Consequently, early detection of a threat following a CBRNe event is a mandatory requirement for the safety and security of human operators involved in the management of the emergency. Drones are nowadays one of the most advanced and versatile tools available, and they have proven to be successfully used in many different application fields. The use of drones equipped with inexpensive and selective detectors could be both a solution to improve the early detection of threats and, at the same time, a solution for human operators to prevent dangerous situations. To maximize the drone’s capability of detecting dangerous volatile substances, fluid dynamics numerical simulations may be used to understand the optimal configuration of the detectors positioned on the drone. This study serves as a first step to investigate how the fluid dynamics of the drone propeller flow and the different sensors position on-board could affect the conditioning and acquisition of data. The first consequence of this approach may lead to optimizing the position of the detectors on the drone based not only on the specific technology of the sensor, but also on the type of chemical agent dispersed in the environment, eventually allowing to define a technological solution to enhance the detection process and ensure the safety and security of first responders.

Design of Miniaturized Sensors for a Mission-Oriented UAV Application: A New Pathway for Early Warning

“…Other tests are conducted to investigate the sensors' position on the UAS in order to improve detection and identification capabilities. These experiments are designed to verify what was determined through previous numerical fluid dynamics simulations [42,67] aimed at examining rotatory wings UAV turbulence in the presence of various hazardous chemicals.…”

Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Flora Ten Years after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Disaster

“…Research into the long-term effects on flora, fauna and human health following the FNPP incident is constantly evolving and proceeding relentlessly [7]. The CNPP and FNPP accidents provide unique opportunities on the investigation of radiological consequences and radiation effects on environment in a large scale that cannot be observed in the laboratory, not only for the health of higher plants but also for human health [32,[44][45][46][47]. Prior to the Fukushima incident, few decision makers paid attention to the need to plan health investigations following a large-scale radiation scattering incident [47][48][49].…”

Drones and Sensors Ecosystem to Maximise the “Storm Effects” in Case of CBRNe Dispersion in Large Geographic Areas

“…The main problems of this type of instrument are the relatively high cost, the low specificity, and their inability to detect compounds with high ionization energy Usually, MOXs sensors are one of the most used in robotics olfactory applications for its low-cost, low time of response and simplicity in its usage, thus represent a useful candidate on board to a drone platform. In our research group (QEP Quantum Electronics and Plasma Physics Research Group [48]), a preliminary study of chemical sensors suitable for drone has been performed in the last year ( [49][50][51]). A combination of different technologies such as LIDAR for preliminary dispersion detection has been evaluated with a drone equipped with a multisensor chemical platform.…”

“…Different application in the last few years have considered the use of a mobile platform for sensors instead a classical static sensor network, where a drone is a suitable platform to be equipped with gas sensors for environmental and monitoring tasks. Several other applications demonstrated that drones are suitable to be equipped with gas sensors for environmental monitoring [49][50][51]. As a proof of concept, recent study such as [3] demonstrated the use of nano-drone for indoor gas source localization and mapping.…”