# Gamma Radiation Source Localization for Micro Aerial Vehicles with a Miniature Single-Detector Compton Event Camera

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.03356 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.03356/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 6 Nov 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [RADRON: Cooperative Localization of Ionizing Radiation Sources by MAVs with Compton Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.26018/) (2025)
- [Physics-Guided Robotic Radiation Source Localization along Arbitrary Measurement Paths in Unstructured Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.27624/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A novel method for localization and estimation of compact sources of gamma radiation for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) is presented in this paper. The method is developed for a novel single-detector Compton camera, developed by the authors. The detector is extremely small and weighs only 40 g, which opens the possibility for use on sub-1 kg class of drones. The Compton camera uses the MiniPIX TPX3 CdTe event camera to measure Compton scattering products of incoming high-energy gamma photons. The 3D position and the sub-nanosecond time delay of the measured scattering products are used to reconstruct sets of possible directions to the source. The proposed method utilizes a filter for fusing the measurements and estimating the radiation source position during the flight. The computations are executed in real-time onboard and allow integration of the detector info into a fully-autonomous system. Moreover, the real-time nature of the estimator potentially allows estimating states of a moving radiation source. The proposed method was validated in simulations and demonstrated in a real-world experiment with a Cs137 radiation source. The approach can localize a gamma source without estimating the gradient or contours of radiation intensity, which opens possibilities for localizing sources in a cluttered and urban environment.