• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.270-277
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• 2010

Various robot platforms have been designed and developed to perform given tasks in a hazardous environment for the purpose of surveillance, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and etc. We have considered a terrain adaptive hybrid robot platform which is equipped with rapid navigation on flat floors and good performance on overcoming stairs or obstacles. Since our special consideration is posed to its flexibility for real application, we devised a design of a transformable robot structure which consists of an ordinary wheeled structure to navigate fast on flat floor and a variable tracked structure to climb stairs effectively. Especially, track arms installed in front side, rear side, and mid side are used for navigation mode transition between flatland navigation and stairs climbing. The mode transition is determined and implemented by adaptive driving mode control of mobile robot. The wheel and track hybrid mobile platform apparatus applied off-road driving mechanism for various professional service robots is verified through experiments for navigation performance in real and test-bed environment.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.894-902
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• 2010

This paper presents a vision-based robust off-road terrain classification method against environmental variation. As a supervised classification algorithm, we applied a neural network classifier using wavelet features extracted from wavelet transform of an image. In order to get over an effect of overall image feature variation, we adopted environment sensors and gathered the training parameters database according to environmental conditions. The robust terrain classification algorithm against environmental variation was implemented by choosing an optimal parameter using environmental information. The proposed algorithm was embedded on a processor board under the VxWorks real-time operating system. The processor board is containing four 1GHz 7448 PowerPC CPUs. In order to implement an optimal software architecture on which a distributed parallel processing is possible, we measured and analyzed the data delivery time between the CPUs. And the performance of the present algorithm was verified, comparing classification results using the real off-road images acquired under various environmental conditions in conformity with applied classifiers and features. Experiments show the robustness of the classification results on any environmental condition.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.372-378
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• 2009

For effective mobility control of unmanned ground vehicles in outdoor off-road environments, terrain cover classification technology using passive sensors is vital. This paper presents a novel method far terrain classification based on color and texture information of off-road images. It uses a neural network classifier and wavelet features. We exploit the wavelet mean and energy features extracted from multi-channel wavelet transformed images and also utilize the terrain class spatial coordinates of images to include additional features. By comparing the classification performance according to applied features, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has a promising result and potential possibilities for autonomous navigation.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.509-523
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• 2005

We are developing a novel framework, PRIDE (PRediction In Dynamic Environments), to perform moving object prediction (MOP) for autonomous ground vehicles. The underlying concept is based upon a multi-resolutional, hierarchical approach which incorporates multiple prediction algorithms into a single, unifying framework. The lower levels of the framework utilize estimation-theoretic short-term predictions while the upper levels utilize a probabilistic prediction approach based on situation recognition with an underlying cost model. The estimation-theoretic short-term prediction is via an extended Kalman filter-based algorithm using sensor data to predict the future location of moving objects with an associated confidence measure. The proposed estimation-theoretic approach does not incorporate a priori knowledge such as road networks and traffic signage and assumes uninfluenced constant trajectory and is thus suited for short-term prediction in both on-road and off-road driving. In this article, we analyze the complementary role played by vehicle kinematic models in such short-term prediction of moving objects. In particular, the importance of vehicle process models and their effect on predicting the positions and orientations of moving objects for autonomous ground vehicle navigation are examined. We present results using field data obtained from different autonomous ground vehicles operating in outdoor environments.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.27-32
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• 2007

Head-Up Display system makes it possible for the driver to be informed of important vehicle data such as vehicle speed, engine RPM or navigation data without taking the driver's eyes off the road. Long focal length optics, LCD with bright illumination, image generator and vehicle interface controllers are key parts of head-up display system. All these parts have been designed, developed and applied to the test vehicle. Virtual images are located about 2m ahead of the driver's eye by projecting it onto the windshield just below the driver's line of sight. Developed head-up display system shows satisfactory results for future commercialization.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1222-1229
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a new obstacle negotiation method for the rescue robot. The rescue robot has a variable geometry single-tracked mechanism, so it can maximize a contact length with ground for the adaptability to off-road and pursue a stable system due to the lower center of gravity. In this research, we add the basis of autonomous navigation, driving mode control based on obstacle detection, to the robot to realize automation of mode transformation. Obstacle detection using PSD(Position Sensitive Device) infrared sensors gives active transformation of the track shape. Finally, experimental results about mentioned are presented.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.683-688
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• 2010

The ability to navigate autonomously in off-road terrain is the most critical technology needed for Unmanned Ground Vehicles(UGV). In this paper, we present a method for vision-based terrain cover classification using DCT features. To classify the terrain, we acquire image from a CCD sensor, then the image is divided into fixed size of blocks. And each block transformed into DCT image then extracts features which reflect frequency band characteristics. Neural network classifier is used to classify the features. The proposed method is validated and verified through many experiments and we compare it with wavelet feature based method. The results show that the proposed method is more efficiently classify the terrain-cover than wavelet feature based one.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.516-523
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• 2009

Recently, the applications of unmanned robots are increasing in various fields including surveillance and reconnaissance, planet exploration and disaster relief. To perform their missions with success, the robots should be able to evaluate terrain's characteristics quantitatively and identify traversable regions to progress toward a goal using mounted sensors. Recently, the authors have proposed techniques that extract terrain information and analyze traversability for off-road navigation of an unmanned robot. In this paper, we examine the use of 3D world models(terrain maps) to classify obstacle and safe terrain for increasing the reliability of the proposed techniques. A world model is divided into several patches and each patch is classified as belonging either to an obstacle or a non-obstacle using three types of metrics. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified on real terrain maps.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.79-85
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• 2014

For the successful operation of unmanned ground vehicles(UGVs), optimal path planning should be considered with trafficability analysis, threat analysis, and so on. From among these, trafficability analysis is immensely important for safeness of UGVs especially in the case of driving the off-road such as unpaved road, grassland, and open fields. Geographical information has a pivotal role in extracting data and measuring cost for specified regions of interest. In this paper, we review possibilities to apply Land Cover Map(LCM) as a new, fundamental source and propose a new generation method of trafficability analysis map for optimal path planning of UGV. The simulation results show that the proposed method significantly improve the previous method by applying LCM either alone or in combination with the other GIS.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.602-609
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• 2018

Differential GPS (DGPS) is known as a positioning method using pseudo range correction (PRC) which is communicating between a refence receiver and moving receivers. In real world, a moving receiver loses communication with the reference receiver, resulting in loss of PRC real-time communication. In this paper, we assume that the transmission of the pseudo range correction isinterrupted in the middle of real-time positioning situations, in which calibration information is received in the DGPS method. Under the disconnected communication, we propose 'predict DGPS' that real-time virtual PRC model which is modeled by a machine learning algorithm with previously acquired PRC data from a reference receiver. To verify predict DGPS method, we compared and analyzed positioning solutions acquired from real PRC and the virtual PRC. In addition, we show that positioning using the DGPS prediction method on a real road can provide an improved positioning solution assuming a scenario in which PRC communication was cut off.