• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.181-185
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• 2020

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.197-204
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• 2007

Nowadays, the construction industry is suffering from the decrease of labor productivity caused by the lack of skilled workers and the aging labor forces. The hazardous work conditions and safety problems still exist at the construction sites. The earthwork operation is not the exception. The number of skilled earthwork equipment operators has been rapidly reduced and the equipment needs to be operated in dangerous / hazardous work sites. Thus, through the development of intelligent excavating system, Intelligent Excavating System(I.E.S) research team tries to enhance the safety of work environment, productivity, quality, and payability of the earthwork operation. It is also expected that this research contributes to the development of fundamental construction automation technologies and to the creation a new market sector.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.55-63
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• 2020

Earthwork automation has emerged as a promising technology in the construction industry, and the application of earthwork automation technology is starting from the acquisition and processing of point cloud data of the site. Point cloud data has more than a million data due to vast extent of the construction site, and the processing time of the original point cloud data is critical because it takes tens or hundreds of hours to generate a Digital Terrain Model (DTM), and enhancement of the processing time can largely impact on the efficiency of the modeling. Currently, a benchmark program (BP) is actively used for the purpose of both point cloud data processing and BIM design as an integrated program in Korea, however, there are some aspects to be modified and refined. This study modified the BP, and developed an updated program by adopting a compile-based development environment, newly designed UI/UX, and OpenGL while maintaining existing PCD processing functions, and expended compatibility of the PCD file formats. We conducted a comparative test in terms of loading speed with different number of point cloud data, and the results showed that 92 to 99% performance increase was found in the developed program. This program can be used as a foundation for the development of a program that reduces the gap between design and construction by integrating PCD and earthwork BIM functions in the future.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.967-977
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• 2018

The problems of lack of skilled worker and poor productivity at the construction site continue to be raised, and the introduction of construction automation as one of the solutions to this has been considered. The development of various types of equipment and systems has been carried out, especially for earthwork operations with multiple construction equipment. However, the level of commercialization of developed equipment or systems is very limited. Although the single-product type of earthwork equipment has been applied to the site, the integrated type of earthwork system is still in the field testing stage. Considering these constraints, the limited budget and research period, a strategy is needed to identify which technology areas and core technologies should be developed first. In this study, the technology areas and detailed core technologies that are essential for the development of earthwork systems at the level of commercialization are set and the priority of development is determined. In addition, the earthwork system that has been developed so far is analyzed and the detailed development direction is presented based on it. The findings can be used for a decision making to set the priority for core technologies that should be developed first in the limited budget and period.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.977-982
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• 2007

There have been many efforts in automatic object recognition using computing technologies. Especially in the development of automated construction equipment, automatic object recognition is very important issue for the proper equipment maneuvering. 3D laser scanning, which uses (time-of-flight) method to construct the 3-dimensional information, is applied to the civil earth work environment for its high accuracy, quick data collection, and object recognition capability that will be developed by the authors in the future. The 3D earth model is also used as a fundamental information for intelligent earth work task planning. This paper presents the analysis of the 3D laser scanner market and selection of the most optimum 3D scanner for the intelligent earth work planning. As well as the hardware configuration for the automated 3D earth modeling is developed but also the software structure and detailed user interface are designed in this research. In addition, it is presented in this paper that the accuracy comparison test between TotalStation(R) which is a traditional survey tool and ScanStation(R). The accuracy test is done by relative distance measurement using known targets.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3D
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• pp.259-267
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• 2012

The development of construction automation systems is proposed as a potent solution to the difficulties encountered by the construction industry and the preparation for the rapidly changing construction environment. A research concerning an intelligent excavation system has taken place since 2006. The intelligent excavation system has several functions for environment sensing, 3D site modeling, work planning, work path generation, unmaned control, and information management. This paper presents a space information model and a work path simulator for work planning and work path generation which is one of key technologies required to apply the earthwork system to the real world. A data structure for an earthwork site is suggested. It overcomes the limitations of previous data structures such as Quadtree and Octree. The work path simulator can generate an effective work path with considering information on work environment, equipment and operator's heuristic. The work path generated by the simulator is compared with that suggested by human operators.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4D
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• pp.433-442
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• 2010

Recent decrease in the availability of experienced skilled labor and a corresponding lack of new entrants has required the need for automating many of the construction equipment used in the construction industry. In particular, excavators are widely used throughout earthwork operations and automating its tasks enables work to be performed with higher productivity and safety. This paper introduces an optimal path generation method which is one of the core technologies required to make "Intelligent" excavators a reality. The method divides a given earthwork area into unit cells, identifies networks created by linking these cells, and identifies the optimal path an excavator should follow to minimize its total transportation costs. In addition, the method also accounts for drainage direction and path continuity to ensure that the generated path considers site specific conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.184-192
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• 2008

Recently, one of the solutions for the problems of construction industry such as low productivity, lack of experts, insufficiency of manpower, high percentage of calamity and so forth, construction automation which let underdeveloped construction production system be a ultramodern technology is under research. Internal study of construction automation has been initiated since 1980s focusing on robotics and semi-automation for reduction of labor. Therefore development of construction robots is being concentrated with the high development of information technology and Intelligent Excavating System(IES) project had been launched by ministry of land, transportation, and maritime affairs as one way of construction technology revolution business. This study introduces the final goal and the research progress until second year of IES.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.551-564
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• 2016

Earthworks are the fundamental steps in a construction job, and are mainly comprised of smaller tasks performed by construction machinery. The productivity of the construction job can be improved by optimizing excavation, filling, and other such operations. Earthworks involve a lot of mechanical work performed by the collaboration between various kinds of construction equipment, which in turn leads to higher fuel consumption. Actual earthworks depend mostly on the intuition and experience of the driver of the machines, thus leading to inefficiency and environmental problems caused by unnecessary emission of carbon, Recently automated and information-oriented technologies are consistently being researched towards the improvement of efficiency of earthworks in the construction industry. The present research involves the introduction and understanding of the decision-making elements of heuristics which can be applied to the earthwork planning. A method is also suggested for creating an effective work path for construction machine to perform task packages (TP) for cutting and filling processes. A simulation test is performed to verify the effectiveness of suggested methods in terms of space interference and total moving distance of construction equipment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.790-793
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• 2008

Recently, Intelligent Excavating System(IES) for earthwork automation is on progress since the end of 2006 as a part of construction technology innovation projects in Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. Task Planning System(TPS), one of the detail core technologies of IES, is an optimal work planning system in conditions of effectiveness, safety and economic efficiency by analyzing the work environment data based on earthwork design and work environment recognition technology. For effective earthwork planning, the location of platform must be the most optimal spot for minimization of time, maximization of productivity and reduction of overlapped work spaces and unnecessariness. Besides, the decision of optimal platform location is to be based on the specifications and then is able to be converted with the local area calculation algorithm. This study explains the decision of optimal platform location on the basis of local area from the work space separate process and judges the effectiveness.