Routing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle During NPP Monitoring in the Presence of an Automatic Battery Replacement Aerial System

Abstract

The paper is devoted to routing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant monitoring without returning to the depot due to the deployment of an automatic battery replacement aerial system in specified places. The monitoring includes the overflight of the 11 monitoring stations to collect radiation monitoring data from them in case of damage of wired networks between the monitoring stations and the crisis centre. The shortest possible UAV route that visits every monitoring station (route point) exactly once and returns to the UAV depot is found by solving the Travelling Salesman Problem. An algorithm for determining the places for deployment of the automatic battery replacement aerial system is presented. A flight schedule both for the UAV and the automatic battery replacement aerial system is developed. The DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual quadcopter is considered as a UAV for monitoring missions. The SL-231 Scout helicopter capable to operate in an unmanned mode is considered as a platform for the automatic battery replacement system.