• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5035-5057
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• 2019

Advancements in nanotechnology and novel nano materials in the past decade have provided a set of tools that can be used to design and manufacture integrated nano devices, which are capable of performing sensing, computing, data storing and actuation. In this paper, we have proposed cooperative nano communication using Power Switching Relay (PSR) Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) protocol and Time Switching Relay (TSR) WPT protocol over independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels in the Terahertz (THz) Gap frequency band to increase the range of transmission. Outage Probability (OP) performances for the proposed cooperative nano communication networks have been evaluated for the following scenarios: A) A single decode-and-forward (DF) relay for PSR protocol and TSR protocol, B) DF multi-relay network with best relay selection (BRS) for PSR protocol and TSR protocol, and C) DF multi-relay network with multiple DF hops with BRS for PSR protocol and TSR protocol. The results have shown that the transmission distance can be improved significantly by employing DF relays with WPT. They have also shown that by increasing the number of hops in a relay the OP performance is only marginally degraded. The analytical results have been verified by Monte-Carlo simulations.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.47-54
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• 2014

Clutches are an integral part of the automatic transmission for changing gears. Modern automatic transmissions make extensive use of wet multiple-disc clutches employing hydraulic actuation mechanism with electronic control. Although nowadays, highly advanced shifting algorithm implements the superior shift quality and transmission efficiency, its performance should be based on smooth, reliable engagement with a reasonably durable friction material as well as stable clutch piston dynamics. Particularly, clutch filling control is the crucial part of shifting process because only the open-loop control is available due to the lack of measurement. In this paper, the effect of clutch-fill control parameters on clutch piston dynamics is experimentally investigated by using clutch piston test equipment which enables the clutch piston to actuate similar to real shifting conditions. The experimental analysis results can be expected to be utilized for the calibration of proportional solenoid valve as reference current profile data in vehicle test.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.24-34
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• 2019

An automotive automatic transmission is a popular power-transmitting device in passenger vehicles, as it provides various speed ratios for diverse driving conditions with easy manipulation and smooth gear shifting. The transmission is mainly composed of input and output shafts, planetary gear sets, brakes/clutches, and housing, and it yields multiple forward gears and one reverse gear by actuating the shifting devices of the brakes and clutches. In developing a new transmission, kinematic configurations of a transmission, which presents a brief structure and actuation schemes for speed ratios, need to be checked to determine if the structure can be assembled in a layout. It is impossible for a transmission concept having any interference in connecting main components to be developed further in the design process, since connection interference leads to failure of a layout design in the 2-D plane. In this research, an analysis of the assemblability of a front-wheel drive automatic transmission is carried out on an example concept design by applying the vertex addition algorithm based on graph theory.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.809-821
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• 2016

Concentric-tube continuum robots have formed an active field of research in robotics because of their manipulative exquisiteness essential to facilitate delicate surgical procedures. A set of concentric tubes with designed initial curvatures comprises a robot whose workspace can be controlled by relative translations and rotations of the tubes. Kinematic models have been widely used to predict the movement of the robot, but they are incapable of describing its time-dependent hysteretic behaviors accurately particularly when snapping occurs. To overcome this limitation, here we present a finite element modeling approach to investigating the dynamics of concentric-tube continuum robots. In our model, each tube is discretized using MITC shell elements and its transient responses are computed implicitly using the Bathe time integration method. Inter-tube contacts, the key actuation mechanism of this robot, are modeled using the constraint function method with contact damping to capture the hysteresis in robot trajectories. Performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by analyzing three specifications of two-tube robots including the one exhibiting snapping phenomena while the method can be applied to multiple-tube robots as well.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.435-446
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• 2019

The existing piezoelectric spherical transducers with fixed prescribed dynamic characteristics limit their application in scenarios with multi-frequency or frequency variation requirement. To address this issue, this work proposes an improved design of piezoelectric spherical transducers using the resistance tuning method. Two piezoceramic shells are the functional elements with one for actuation and the other for tuning through the variation of load resistance. The theoretical model of the proposed design is given based on our previous work. The effects of the resistance, the middle surface radius and the thickness of the epoxy adhesive layer on the dynamic characteristics of the transducer are explored by numerical analysis. The numerical results show that the multi-frequency characteristics of the transducer can be obtained by tuning the resistance, and its electromechanical coupling coefficient can be optimized by a matching resistance. The proposed design and derived theoretical solution are validated by comparing with the literature given special examples as well as an experimental study. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of using the proposed design to realize the multi-frequency characteristics, which is helpful to improve the performance of piezoelectric spherical transducers used in underwater acoustic detection, hydrophones, and the spherical smart aggregate (SSA) used in civil structural health monitoring, enhancing their operation at the multiple working frequencies to meet different application requirements.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2022

Structural health monitoring and structural vibration control are multidisciplinary and frontier research directions of civil engineering. As intelligent materials that integrate sensing and actuation capabilities, shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit multiple excellent characteristics, such as shape memory effect, superelasticity, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, and high energy density. Moreover, SMAs possess excellent resistance sensing properties and large deformation ability. Superfine NiTi SMA wires have potential applications in structural health monitoring and micro-drive system. In this study, the mechanical properties and electrical resistance sensing characteristics of superfine NiTi SMA wires were experimentally investigated. The mechanical parameters such as residual strain, hysteretic energy, secant stiffness, and equivalent damping ratio were analyzed at different training strain amplitudes and numbers of loading-unloading cycles. The results demonstrate that the detwinning process shortened with increasing training amplitude, while austenitic mechanical properties were not affected. In addition, superfine SMA wires showed good strain-resistance linear correlation, and the loading rate had little effect on their mechanical properties and electrical resistance sensing characteristics. This study aims to provide an experimental basis for the application of superfine SMA wires in engineering.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.705-709
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• 2016

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes are widely used in various robot applications. However, these conventional gyroscopes need to vibrate the proof mass using a built-in actuator at a fixed resonance frequency to sense the Coriolis force. When a robot is not moving, the meaningless vibration of the gyroscope wastes power. In addition, this continuous vibration makes the sensor vulnerable to external sound waves with a frequency close to the proof-mass resonance frequency. In this paper, a feasibility study of a new type of gyroscope inspired by insect halteres is presented. In dipterous insects, halteres are a biological gyroscope that measures the Coriolis force. Wing muscles and halteres are mechanically linked, and the halteres oscillate simultaneously with wing beats. The vibrating haltere experiences the Coriolis force if the insect is going through a rotational motion. Inspired by this haltere structure, a gyroscope using a thin mast integrated with a robot actuation mechanism is proposed. The mast vibrates only when the robot is moving without requiring a separate actuator. The Coriolis force of the mast can be measured with an accelerometer installed at the tip of the mast. However, the signal from the accelerometer has multiple frequency components and also can be highly corrupted with noise, such that raw data are not meaningful. This paper also presents a suitable signal processing technique using the amplitude modulation method. The feasibility of the proposed haltere-inspired gyroscope is also experimentally evaluated.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.986-992
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• 2021

To stabilize closed-loop wireless control systems, the state-of-the-art approach receives the individual sensor measurements at the controller and then sends the computed control signal to the actuators. We propose an over-the-air controller scheme where all sensors attached to the plant transmit scaled sensing signals simultaneously to the actuator, and the actuator then computes the feedback control signal by scaling the received signal. The over-the-air controller essentially adopts the over-the-air computation concept to compute the control signal for closed-loop wireless control systems. In contrast to the state-of-the-art sensor-to-controller and controller-to-actuator communication approach, the over-the-air controller exploits the superposition properties of multiple-access wireless channels to complete the communication and computation of a large number of sensing signals in a single communication resource unit. Therefore, the proposed scheme can obtain significant benefits in terms of low actuation delay and low resource utilization with a simple network architecture that does not require a dedicated controller.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.25 no.4_2
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• pp.655-662
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• 2022

Recently, with the increase in the use of UAV(unmanned aerial vehicles), research on horizontal maintenance stations that can take off and land in various environments has been actively conducted. These stations can safely land UAV through multiple DOF(degrees of freedom) or at least 2-DOF-based actuator actuation. Among them, many researchers are dealing with the multi-DOF stewart platform due to its high safety. However, the stewart platform requires high-precision control technology because it requires a lot of torque to actuate according to the load action. Therefore, in this paper, to solve the mentioned problem, a bevel gear-based 2-DOF horizontal maintenance station system is proposed. The proposed system is configured to prevent damage due to air resistance when maintaining ships and to install it in a small space. Also, in terms of system configuration, the bevel gear-based horizontal maintenance system has the main advantage of being able to take off and land UAVs of various sizes through the replacement of station pads. The driving of the system consists of a simple form that can control the motor by adjusting the rotation speed of the motor according to the sea waveform.