A sampling-based method with virtual reality technology to provide minimum dose path navigation for occupational workers in nuclear facilities

This paper proposes a sampling-based method (SBM) for planning minimum dose path navigation for workers in nuclear facilities. To simulate and avoid obstacles, they were approximated by a combination of basic geometries and detected with the aid of virtual reality. To obtain an optimized walking path with minimum dose without considering the pre-designed road networks, a sampling-based method that utilizes the rapidly exploring random tree star (RRT*) algorithm, applicable in both continuous and discrete radiation fields, was proposed and implemented. The performance of this method was evaluated by simulating walk paths and estimating their radiation dose rates in a hypothetical nuclear facility, and the simulation results were compared with those derived from Dijsktra's algorithm under various radioactive environments.