Investigating the Influence of Ionizing Radiation on Standard Ccd Cameras and a Possible Impact on Photogrammetric Measurements

In the context of high precision metrology tasks in heavy radiated areas questions arose concerning the applicability of digital cameras for photogrammetric purposes under these special conditions. The background for this problem is the conceptual design of a particle accelerator. After initial installation some areas of the new facility will not be accessible due to an expected high level of neutron production and activation. Therefore a new remote-controlled survey and alignment system has to be developed. For this purpose close-range photogrammetry appears to be the most applicable technique. But in technical literature hardly any research results can be found, concerning the influence of ionizing radiation on digital image sensors, particularly for photogrammetric use. Hence basic research as well as practical tests were carried out, to investigate the influence of neutron and gamma radiation on CCD sensors under photogrammetric aspects. The results show a significant influence of radiation on the image quality, but only for high gamma doses. Lower dose rates, as they are expected at the accelerator, are not going to be a serious problem. Further tests are planned.