The project aims to create a robotic system called SAMI (Severe Accident Mobile Investigator) that can assist during power plant accident scenarios. The system includes an upgraded quadcopter drone that collects temperature, video and other sensor data. A base station charges the drone, stores data, and communicates with a remote control station via fiber optic cable. The base station design is complete and future work includes improving the drone's object avoidance capabilities and moving electronics to circuit boards. The system is intended to provide situational information to operators during beyond-design-basis events.

1. Quadcopter Design:
• Upgraded 4S Lipo Battery to 6S Lipo Battery
• Upgraded to carbon fiber 4 axis vehicle frame
• Upgraded 20A speed controllers to 40A speed controllers
• Upgraded 13” carbon fiber props to 15” carbon fiber props
• Added optical distance measurement with 40+ m range
• Added companion computer to collect temperature
readings and broadcast live video
• Added optical flow smart camera and 3-axis gyro for position
control and stabilized flight within GPS Denied Environments
Project Requirements:
• Redesign Quadcopter
• Design base station
• Integrate quadcopter and base station designs
• Manufacture working prototype
• Document system design and construction
Project Support - EPRI Supporters: Rob Austin & Stephen Lopez & Faculty Mentors: Dr. James Conrad & Dr. Nabila A. BouSaba
Severe Accident Mobile Investigator (SAMI)
Mission Statement:
The mission of this project is to create a robotic
system that can assist during power plant accident
scenarios by providing real-time situational
information (e.g., video, temperature, pressure,
radiation level, etc.) to an offsite operator for
assessment and decision making purposes.
Project Features:
• Autonomous flight capable system
• Landing pad automatically charges quadcopter
• Reliable precision landing and target tracking
and recognition in any lighting condition
• Base station switch operated motor control
system
• Temperature, pressure, humidity and radiation
sensing on base station
• Base station communicates, charges, stores and
protects quadcopter
Base Station Electrical Design:
• Designed charging pad that will charge 6s 6000mAh battery
in 20 minutes
• Designed motor control system to open bay doors on Base
Station
• Designed beacon system w/ 15+ meter detection range for
precision landing
• Integrated an uninterruptible Power Supply System for 6-12
hours of unplugged Base Station operation
Communication System Design:
• Wireless communication via Wifi
• SSH server between base station and quadcopter
• Raspberry Pi UDP video server
• Communication from control station to base
station via fiber optic cable
Base Station Design:
• 110 lbs.
• 1018 steel frame material
• 4’ by 4’ base station footprint
• Open doors via sprocket motor mechanism
• Maintenance door access to internals
Future Work:
• Upgrade LidarLite to 360 Lidar for Object
Avoidance
• Change copper tape to permanent copper tiles
on landing pad
• Replace .5” hollow steel square tubes with 1”
hollow steel square tubes
• All internal electronics move from breadboard to
PCB board
• With the motor controller, implement use of an
Arduino to control motors to open/close
remotely
• Equip quadcopter companion computer with
vision processing for intelligent decision making
during flight autonomously
Design Requirements:
• Base Station shall communicate with remote
location via fiber optic cable
• Base Station shall charge and store quadcopter
• Base Station shall collect temperature, pressure,
humidity and radiation data from the
environment
• Quadcopter shall collect temperature, and
video data from the environment
• All system software shall originate from non-
proprietary sources
• The duration of deployment shall be a minimum
of 30 days following a loss of site power
• The system shall be able to be deployed and
operated following a beyond design basis event
or severe accident
Operation Station
Controller
Base Station Quadcopter
Nuclear Power Plant ContainmentRemote Location
Fiber Optics
Wireless
Concept of Operations: