Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of site characteristics is critical to the design and operation of a remediation strategy or site management plan. Autonomous approaches have the potential to streamline analysis of samples at the lab scale to facilitate high throughput, but also can be deployed at the field scale to perform reliable data collection and telemetry from sensor networks. Similarly, unoccupied vehicles have seen recent growth in environmental sensing and imaging by offering novel approaches to data collection that increase efficiency and reduce risk to field staff. This technical session will highlight the use of automated technologies and unoccupied vehicle sensing platforms to understand site characteristics and monitor field conditions. Topics will range from novel capabilities achieved through automation, the challenges associated with operating automated or unoccupied platforms, the interpretation of data collected from unoccupied vehicles, and the novel information gleaned from studies that deploy these approaches.
Session Organizer: Amoret Bunn, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Ronald S. Bell, Drone Geoscience, LLC; Adam Mangel, Haley & Aldrich, Inc.
| 1:00 - 1:05 p.m. |
Opening Remarks __________________________________________________ |
|
1:05 - 1:25 p.m. Michigan Radiological Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Program Greg Gothard, Michigan Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy ► PRESENTATION PDF |
This talk will discuss the issues and considerations encountered in the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) in creating a program applying UAVs for radiological surveys in support of radiological emergency response operations. It will cover considerations for flying, researching drones and equipment, our current operating picture, and challenges with data collection and analysis.
__________________________________________________ |
|
1:25 - 1:45 p.m. Comparison of UAV and Human Surveys for Decommissioning Amoret Bunn, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ► PRESENTATION PDF |
Nuclear facilities licensed under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are required to be surveyed for residual radiological contamination before release for unrestricted use. NRC guidance currently demonstrates the minimum requirements and necessary conditions for conducting radiological surveys by a person carrying a radiation detector(s). The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) evaluated the use of an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) to conduct radiological surveys that could be used in decommissioning to reduce time, cost, and potential safety risks to humans compared to current survey methods. The objective of this project was to evaluate the performance and limitations of a UAV to support a decommissioning radiological survey and compare it to a radiological survey conducted by a human. Key factors for the comparison of human to UAV surveys included addressing spatial and temporal measurements (gamma radiation, LiDAR, GPS) and statistical evaluations. The results of this proof-of-concept research determined that the UAV and human surveys followed similar survey paths and detected the radiological sources with no significant statistical difference (in 33 out of 36 surveys). This presentation will discuss the use of UAVs for radiological surveys and the analytical challenges remaining before deploying UAVs for decommissioning surveys to meet NRC regulations. Coauthors: Katie Wagner, Deborah Fagan, Harish Gadey, Tracy Ikenberry, Kameron Markham, Moses Obiri (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) __________________________________________________ |
|
1:45 - 2:05 p.m. Drone-Based Phytoremediation Reconnaissance Using NDVI/NIR Multispectral Imagery at a Historical Waste Storage Landfill Clara Austin, AECOM ► PRESENTATION PDF |
Background/Objectives: Coauthors: Barry Harding (AECOM, Grand Rapids, Michigan), Aaron Martin (AECOM, Midland, Michigan), Doug Gray (AECOM, Cleveland, Ohio) __________________________________________________ |
|
2:05 - 2:25 p.m. Drone Geophysics and Remote Sensing for Environmental Site Characterization: An Overview Ronald S. Bell, Drone Geoscience, LLC ► PRESENTATION PDF |
The application of autonomously operated unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) to geoscientific mapping problems is rapidly gaining acceptance throughout the world. For the past decade, deployment of drones equipped with a lightweight magnetometer have demonstrated many times over the inherent value of low altitude measurements and significantly increased spatial data point density to obtaining an improving understanding of geology. It is not an exaggeration to state that a high-definition magnetic map has evolved from novelty item to standard expectation for the modern mineral explorationist. An estimated 85% of the total revenue generated by drone geophysics results from the application of drone magnetics with the overwhelming majority collected in the service of base and precious metal exploration. During the last several years, the application of drone magnetic surveys to environmental problems has grown significantly, in part, driven by the need to precisely locate buried oil and gas infrastructure left behind, buried within the subsurface, out of sight and, for decades, out of mind. A multitude of drone enabled electromagnetic induction (EMI) systems are available for imaging the subsurface from less than a meter to depths of greater that 1000 meters. Drone ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems have been successfully applied to bathymetry and snowpack thickness problems. A novel integrated seismic sensor system encapsulated within a quadcopter has been designed by Saudi Aramco to be deployed in swarms. Rumors abound that gravity measurements using a drone are getting closer to becoming a commercial reality. One researcher at the USGS is combining thermal data collected with a drone with drone magnetic data to map a geothermal resource. All of the examples presented in the previous paragraph and more were presented in the recent Summit for Drone Geophysics, an on-line conference held from October 23rd through October 26th, 2023. The annual conferences provided a snapshot of the current state of the drone geophysics industry. The state-of-the-art with regard to environmental site characterization practices is rapidly evolving as more geoscientists, engineers, and applied technologists seek out the benefits gained from collecting data using a drone in service of their common quest to better understand the surface and the subsurface. Environmental subsurface site characterization has entered into a new phase, one where airborne robots deployed to collect geophysical and remotely sensing data will soon be common practice. __________________________________________________ |
|
2:25-2:45 p.m. |
Open Discussion __________________________________________________ |
| 2:45 - 3:15 p.m. |
Posters and Vendor Exhibit __________________________________________________ |
|
3:15 - 3:35 p.m. Autonomous Measurements and Remote Sensing across Scales: End to End Processing with Cloud-Based Framework for Remotely Sensed Data for Ongoing Site Monitoring Patrick Royer, Data Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ► PRESENTATION PDF |
Ongoing monitoring and evaluation has benefited immensely from a wide range of remotely sensed data sources which are increasing in availability at unprecedented rates, in line with advancements and versatility related to indirect sensing technology. Increased opportunity to deploy modern technology more easily and to ingest larger data sets in real and near-real time comes with a cost of having to develop a more robust information management and analytic architecture to process and disseminate this information. A cloud-based solution, Aether, was developed for end-to-end processing of space borne satellite imagery and other remotely sensed data sources. The system uses a custom cue service to search for new satellite imagery in perpetuity and alerts user groups via email and/or text and begins processing this data a soon as it is available. The approach relies heavily on a serverless compute principle, where resources are allocated on demand and compute power is scaled as required. “Serverless first” approach benefits from a mitigated risk and security profile using a shared responsibility model managed by both PNNL and the cloud provider. The deployment is National Institute of technology FedRAMP compliant for both GOV and commercial cloud and supports multi-factor authentication and rich high granularity access control. An intuitive and streamlined interface allows users to easily consume output from analysis and integrate ongoing output into site surveillance and management practices. A versatile business-to-business API was developed and allows for a more comprehensive approach to sharing compute logic more broadly with collaborators and affiliated projects. We anticipate this capability growing more broadly across all domains related to environmental management as capabilities increase and remote sensing becomes more widely used for ongoing monitoring. Coauthor: Tycko Franklin (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) __________________________________________________ |
|
3:35 - 3:55 p.m. Applying a Drone Enabled Metal Detector to Scan the Subsurface for Buried Pipelines: Preliminary Results William Barkhouse, Drone Geoscience, LLC ► PRESENTATION PDF |
The EM61Lite is the drone-enabled version of the venerable EM61MkII, a globally known and liked time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) geophysical system manufactured by Geonics, Ltd. (www.geonics.com) applied to scanning the subsurface of a one (1) acre parcel for a buried metal pipeline. A Matrice 600 Pro, an unoccupied areal system (UAS) made by DJI (www.dji.com) was deployed to autonomously pass sensor over the ground surface at a constant altitude of approximately 0.8 m (2.62 ft) above ground level (AGL) in two (2) directions. The Universal ground Control Station (UgCS) made by SPH Engineering (www.ugcs.com) was used to program and control the data collection. The maps of the preliminary results were provided to the property managers prior to excavating the subsurface revealing the presence of several heretofore unknown pipelines. Metal detectors use electromagnetic (EM) induction to stimulate the flow of electrical current within metal object which, in turn, produces a secondary magnetic field radiating from the object. The measured quantity is the amplitude of the magnetic field in the vertical direction. For the EM61Lite, an electric current is rapidly pulsed through a “transmitter” coil as it passes over the surface of the earth. A co-located receiver coil is used to measure the amplitude of resulting vertical component of the secondary magnetic field at four (4) discrete points in time after the transmitter pulse is turned off. Thus, the metal object under investigation becomes the source of the EM signal. The EM response is measured along a set of parallel traverse lines with the sensor system kept a consistent distance above the ground surface. For this project the spacing of the survey traverse lines was approximately 5 meters (~16.4 ft). The altitude of the transmitter coil and co-located receiver coil set to be constant distance above ground level (AGL). Data were acquired with the survey lines oriented east=west then acquired for survey lines oriented north-south. The data for each survey orientation were individually processed then aggregated to create a single data volume for further processing, visualization, and analysis. The results from the individual surveys are uniquely informative. Thus, the orientation of the EM61Lite system as well as flight line direction are important parameters to consider when designing an EM survey. Combining the data for the two (2) surveys improved the overall interpretability of the data. The preliminary results clearly show a north-south pipeline on the western half of the area of investigation. In addition, the EM data indicate a north-south striking undocumented pipeline in the eastern half of the property as well as a high probability of other metal objects. Site excavations confirmed the existence of the pipelines. This project was supported by Texas Department of Transportation. Coauthor: Gary Young (Texas A&M Transportation Institute) __________________________________________________ |
|
3:55 - 4:15 p.m. Leveraging Aerial Robotics for Environmental Discovery Luke Placzek, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ► PRESENTATION PDF |
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has established the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory (RASL) to support National Security, Environmental, and Physical Science research. A description of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), payload systems, and associated ground and marine robotics is presented. Information that touches on the administrative, safety, and regulatory compliance is included. RASL has a team of engineers that have developed numerous custom payloads and customized aircraft to complete novel tasks with UAVs, Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), and Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs).
__________________________________________________ |
|
4:15 - 5:00 p.m. |
Open Discussion and Closing Remarks __________________________________________________ |