Development and evaluation of a real-time 3D positioning embedded system combining wireless UWB and camera image analysis (Contract research); FY2023 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; Tokai National Higher Education and Research System*

The Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), had been conducting the Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project (hereafter referred to "the Project") in FY2023. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO). For this purpose, intelligence was collected from all over the world, and basic research and human resource development were promoted by closely integrating/collaborating knowledge and experiences in various fields beyond the barrier of conventional organizations and research fields. The sponsor of the Project was moved from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to JAEA since the newly adopted proposals in FY2018. On this occasion, JAEA constructed a new research system where JAEA-academia collaboration is reinforced and medium-to-long term research/development and human resource development contributing to the decommissioning are stably and consecutively implemented. Among the adopted proposals in FY2022, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development and evaluation of a real-time 3D positioning embedded system combining wireless UWB and camera image analysis" conducted in FY2023. The present study aims to realize an embedded system that combines two of the latest popular technologies, "wireless UWB (Ultra Width Band)" and "multi-camera object recognition" with the goal of simple real-time 3D positioning with less than 10 cm accuracy by a human or robot for measuring air doses in nuclear reactor buildings. In this research, Gifu Univ. and National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College have developed an embedded system with camera shooting function, camera analysis function, and wireless communication function, in order to realize real-time 3D positioning based on the analysis of camera images by using these multiple devices. The Univ. of Tokyo and LocationMind Inc. will apply UWB real-time positioning technology to the inside of nuclear reactor buildings and attempt to develop technology to improve stability. Nagoya Univ. will be in charge of verifying wireless UWB stability from the hardware side by using electromagnetic wave absorbing materials. The radiation resistance evaluation will be conducted in cooperation with the JAEA and National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College.