An autonomous radiation source detection policy based on deep reinforcement learning with generalized ability in unknown environments

Abstract

Autonomous radiation source detection has long been studied for radiation emergencies. Compared to conventional data-driven or path planning methods, deep reinforcement learning shows a strong capacity in source detection while still lacking the generalized ability to the geometry in unknown environments. In this work, the detection task is decomposed into two subtasks: exploration and localization. A hierarchical control policy (HC) is proposed to perform the subtasks at different stages. The low-level controller learns how to execute the individual subtasks by deep reinforcement learning, and the high-level controller determines which subtasks should be executed at the current stage. In experimental tests under different geometrical conditions, HC achieves the best performance among the autonomous decision policies. The robustness and generalized ability of the hierarchy have been demonstrated.