A unique aerial platform equipped for large area surveillance. A real-time tool for emergency management

Aerial platform equipped with a sampling line and real-time monitoring of sampled aerosol is presented. The system is composed by: a) a Sky Arrow 650 fixed wing aircraft with the front part of the fuselage properly adapted to house the detection and acquisition equipment; b) a compact air sampling line where the isokinetic sampling is dynamically maintained, aerosol is collected on a filter positioned along the line and hosted on a rotating 4-filters disk; c) a detection subsystem: a small BGO scintillator and Geiger counter right behind the sampling filter, a HPGe detector allows radionuclide identification in the collected aerosol samples, a large NaI(Tl) crystal detects airborne and ground gamma radiation; d) several environmental (temperature, pressure, aircraft/wind speed) sensors and a GPS receiver that support the full characterization of the sampling conditions and the temporal and geographical location of the acquired data; e) acquisition and control system based on compact electronics and real time software that operate the sampling line actuators, guarantee the dynamical isokinetic condition, and acquire the detectors and sensor data. With this system quantitative measurements can be available also during the plume phase of an accident, while other aerial platforms, without sampling capability, can only be used for qualitative assessments. Transmission of all data will be soon implemented in order to make all the data available in real-time to the Technical Centre for the Emergency Management. The use of an unmanned air-vehicle (UAV) is discussed as future option. (author)