• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2018

The precision of the vibration-sensors, contact or non-contact types, is usually satisfactory for the practical measurement applications, but a sensor is confined to the measurement of a point or a direction. Although the precision and frequency span of the low-cost camera are inferior to these sensors, it has the merits in the cost and in the capability of simultaneous measurement of a large vibrating area. Furthermore, a camera can measure multi-degrees-of-freedom of a vibrating object simultaneously. In this study, the calibration method and the dynamic characteristics of the low-cost machine vision camera as a sensor are studied with a demonstrating example of the two-dimensional vibration of a cantilever beam. The planar image of the camera shot reveals two rectilinear and one rotational motion. The rectilinear vibration motion of a single point is first measured using a camera and the camera is experimentally calibrated by calculating error referencing the LDV (Laser Doppler Vibrometer) measurement. Then, by measuring the motion of multiple points at once, the rotational vibration motion and the whole vibration motion of the cantilever beam are measured. The whole vibration motion of the cantilever beam is analyzed both in time and frequency domain.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.569-575
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• 2013

This paper proposes a method for PDR (Pedestrian Dead-Reckoning) using a low cost IMU. Generally, GPS has been widely used for localization of pedestrians. However, GPS is disabled in the indoor environment such as in buildings. To solve this problem, this research suggests the PDR scheme with an IMU attached to the pedestrian's waist. However, despite the fact many methods have been proposed to estimate the pedestrian's position, but their results are not sufficient. One of the most important factors to improve performance is, a new calibration method that has been proposed to obtain the reliable sensor data. In addition to this calibration, the PDR method is also proposed to detect steps, where estimation schemes of step length, attitude, and heading angles are developed. Peak and zero crossings are detected to count the steps from 3-axis acceleration values. For the estimation of step length, a nonlinear step model is adopted to take advantage of using one parameter. Complementary filter and zero angular velocity are utilized to estimate the attitude of the IMU module and to minimize the heading angle drift. To verify the effectiveness of this scheme, a real-time system is implemented and demonstrated. Experimental results show an accuracy of below 1% and below 3% in distance and position errors, respectively, which can be achievable using a high cost IMU.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.477-496
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• 2013

Due to their cost-effectiveness and ease of installation, wireless smart sensors (WSS) have received considerable recent attention for structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure. Though various wireless smart sensor networks (WSSN) have been successfully implemented for full-scale structural health monitoring (SHM) applications, monitoring of low-level ambient strain still remains a challenging problem for WSS due to A/D converter (ADC) resolution, inherent circuit noise, and the need for automatic operation. In this paper, the design and validation of high-precision strain sensor board for the Imote2 WSS platform and its application to SHM of a cable-stayed bridge are presented. By accurate and automated balancing of the Wheatstone bridge, signal amplification of up to 2507-times can be obtained, while keeping signal mean close to the center of the ADC span, which allows utilization of the full span of the ADC. For better applicability to SHM for real-world structures, temperature compensation and shunt calibration are also implemented. Moreover, the sensor board has been designed to accommodate a friction-type magnet strain sensor, in addition to traditional foil-type strain gages, facilitating fast and easy deployment. The wireless strain sensor board performance is verified through both laboratory-scale tests and deployment on a full-scale cable-stayed bridge.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.13-22
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• 2013

A motion capture system is widely used in movies, computer game, and computer animation industries because it allows for creating realistic human motions efficiently. The inertial motion capture system has several advantages over more popular vision-based systems in terms of the required space and cost. However, it suffers from low accuracy due to the relatively high noise levels of the inertial sensors. In particular, the accelerometer used for measuring gravity direction loses the accuracy when the sensor is moving with non-zero linear acceleration. In this paper, we propose a method to remove the linear acceleration component from the accelerometer data in order to improve the accuracy of measuring gravity direction. In addition, we develop a simple method to calibrate the joint axis of a link to which an inertial sensor belongs as well as the position of a sensor with respect to the link. The calibration enables attaching inertial sensors in an arbitrary position and orientation with respect to a link.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.125-133
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• 2010

A versatile micro-robotic platform for micro/nano scale assembly has been demanded in a variety of application areas such as micro-biology and nanotechnology. In the near future, a flexible and compact platform could be effectively used in a scanning electron microscope chamber. We are developing a platform that consists of miniature mobile robots and a compact positioning stage with multi degree-of-freedom. This paper presents the design and the implementation of a low-cost and compact multi degree of freedom position sensor that is capable of measuring absolute translational and rotational displacement. The proposed sensor is implemented by using a CMOS type image sensor and a target with specific hole patterns. Experimental design based on statistics was applied to finding optimal design of the target. Efficient algorithms for image processing and absolute position decoding are discussed. Simple calibration to eliminate the influence of inaccuracy of the fabricated target on the measuring performance also presented. The developed sensor was characterized by using a laser interferometer. It can be concluded that the sensor system has submicron resolution and accuracy of ${\pm}4{\mu}m$ over full travel range. The proposed vision-based sensor is cost-effective and used as a compact feedback device for implementation of a micro robotic platform.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.861-867
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• 2006

This paper presents the robust mobile robot localization method exploiting redundant motion information acquired from three optical mice that are installed at the bottom of a mobile robot in a regular triangular form. First, we briefly introduce a low-cost optical motion sensor, HDNS-2000, and a commercial device driver development tools, WinDriver, to be used in this research. Second, we explain the basic principle of the mobile robot localization using the motion information from three optical mice, and propose the least squares based localization algorithm which is robust to the noisy measurement and partial malfunctioning of optical mice. Third, we describe the development of the experimental optical odometer using three PC optical mice and the user-friendly graphic monitoring program. Fourth, simulations and experiments are performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed localization method and the operation of the developed optical odometer. Finally, along with the conclusion, we suggest some future work including the installation parameter calibration, the optical mouse remodelling, and the high-performance motion sensor adoption.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.711-726
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• 2008

A number of efforts had been sought to instrument bridges for the purpose of structural monitoring and assessment. The outcome of these efforts, as gauged by advances in the understanding of the definition of structural damage and their role in sensor selection as well as in the design of cost and data-effective monitoring systems, has itself been difficult to assess. The authors' experience with the design, calibration, and operation of a monitoring system for the Kishwaukee Bridge in Illinois has provided several lessons that bear upon these concerns. The systems have performed well in providing a continuous, low-cost monitoring platform for bridge engineers with immediate relevant information.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.270-275
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• 2012

This paper presents a portable and compact optical device which can conveniently be used to perform a functional analysis of human liver function. The proposed system employed red/green LEDs, as a light source, and CMOS image sensor, which is commonly used in cellular phones. With this system, several blood serum samples have been evaluated for liver functional analysis by measuring light absorption level through the blood serum samples depending on aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and total bilirubin concentration. The light absorption through the blood serum samples containing AST, ALT, or total bilirubin can provide their concentrations. The green light absorption is more sensitive to the concentration of AST or ALT, and the red light absorption is more sensitive to the total bilirubuin concentration. Additional calibration steps were performed by using a MATLAB program in order to eliminate the light scattering effects from the extraneous particles existing in each blood serum sample. From the blind test, three standard light intensity curves through each enzyme have been obtained and the enzyme concentration values have been compared to those obtained from a commercially available biochemistry analyzer (Toshiba 200 FR). The average percent difference in the obtained concentrations from two systems for AST, ALT, and total bilirubin concentration came out to be 7.79%, 7.98%. and 7.56%, respectively, with the adjusted coefficient of determination (R2) higher than 0.98. This system can possibly lead to a low-cost and simple system that can be used as a point-of-care (POC) system in a condition without advanced equipments.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.594-602
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• 2022

Cast-resin transformers are widely installed in various electrical power systems because of their low operating cost and low influence on external environmental factors. However, when they have an internal defect during the manufacturing process or operation, a partial discharge (PD) occurs, and eventually destroys the insulation. In this paper, a Rogowski-type PD sensor was studied to replace commercial PD sensors used for the insulation diagnosis of power apparatus. The proposed PD sensor was manufactured with four different types of PCB-based winding structures, and it was analyzed in terms of the detection characteristics for standard calibration pulses and the changes of the output voltage according to the distance. The output increased linearly in accordance with the applied discharge amount. It was confirmed that the hexagon structure sensor had the highest sensitivity, because the winding cross-sectional area of the sensor was larger than others. In addition, as the distance from the defect increased, the output voltage of the sensors decreased by 7.32% on average. It was also confirmed that the attenuation rate according to the distance decreased as the input discharge amount increased. For the application of this new type sensor, PD electrode system was designed to simulate the void defect. Waveforms and PRPD patterns measured by the proposed PD sensors at DIV and 120% of DIV were the same as the results measured by MPD 600 based on IEC 60270. The proposed PD sensors can be installed on the inner wall of the transformer tank by coating its surfaces with a non-conductive material; therefore, it is possible to detect internal defects more effectively at a closer distance from the defect than the conventional sensors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.459-465
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• 2022

This paper reports a method to use a wireless sensor network deployed in the field to real-time monitor soil moisture, warning when the moisture level reaches a specific value, and wirelessly controlling an additional device (LED or water supply system, etc.). In addition, we report all processes related to wireless irrigation system, including field deployment of sensors, real-time monitoring using a smartphone, data calibration, and control of additional devices deployed in the field by smartphone. A commercially available open-source Internet of Things (IoT) platform, NodeMCU, was used, which was combined with a 9V battery, LED and soil humidity sensor to be integrated into a portable prototype. The IoT-based soil humidity sensor prototype deployed in the field was installed next to a tree for on-site demonstration for the measurement of soil humidity in real-time for about 30 hours, and the measured data was successfully transmitted to a smartphone via Wifi. The measurement data were automatically transmitted via e-mail in the form of a text file, stored on the web, followed by analyses and calibrations. The user can check the humidity of the soil real-time through a personal smartphone. When the humidity of a soil reached a specific value, an additional device, an LED device, placed in the field was successfully controlled through the smartphone. This LED can be easily replaced by other electronic devices such as water supplies, which can also be controlled by smartphones. These results show that farmers can not only monitor the condition of the field real-time through a sensor monitoring system manufactured simply at a low cost but also control additional devices such as irrigation facilities from a distance, thereby reducing unnecessary energy consumption and helping improve agricultural productivity.