• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.302-309
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• 2002

This paper presents a technique for localization of a mobile robot using sonar sensors. Localization is the continual provision of knowledges of position that are deduced from its a priori position estimation. The environment of a robot is modeled by a two-dimensional grid map. We define a physically based sonar sensor model and employ an extended Kalman filter to estimate positions of the robot. Since the approach does not rely on an exact geometric model of an object, it is very simple and offers sufficient generality such that integration with concurrent mapping and localizing can be achieved without major modifications. The performance and simplicity of the approach are demonstrated with the results produced by sets of experiments using a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Marine Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.317-318
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• 2006

The towfish oi a side scan sonar is an equipment that search images of the bottom surface of the sea in real time. It is a typical equipment that is related to a sea investigation such as a geological survey, seabed communication cable and power line cable placing repair investigation, fish breeding ground investigation, sea purification, relic and mineral investigation, and mine and submarine search. It used to find objects and Investigate on the seabed surface. But, recently, it is used to sea purification and geological survey that require information of the correct surface of the seabed. So, it needs various filtering technique and image processing techniques development to acquire high resolution image. Therefore, this research develops a side scan sonar using multi-beam sensors that supply various information with the fast scan speed and correct high resolution that is not a simple underwater investigation equipment.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2019

In the ground environment, mobile robot research uses sensors such as GPS and optical cameras to localize surrounding landmarks and to estimate the position of the robot. However, an underwater environment restricts the use of sensors such as optical cameras and GPS. Also, unlike the ground environment, it is difficult to make a continuous observation of landmarks for location estimation. So, in underwater research, artificial markers are installed to generate a strong and lasting landmark. When artificial markers are acquired with an underwater sonar sensor, different types of noise are caused in the underwater sonar image. This noise is one of the factors that reduces object detection performance. This paper aims to improve object detection performance through distortion and rotation augmentation of training data. Object detection is detected using a Faster R-CNN.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.481-491
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• 2022

The active sonar transmission system consists of a transmitter that outputs an electrical signal and an underwater acoustic transducer that converts the amplified electrical signal into an acoustic signal. In general, the transmitter output characteristics are dependent on load impedance, and an underwater acoustic transducer, which is a transmitter load, has a characteristic that the electrical impedance varies largely according to frequency when driven. In such a variable impedance condition, the output of the active sonar transmission system may become unstable. Hence, this paper proposes a design and control technique of a sonar transmitter for transmitting a stable transmission signal even under variable impedance conditions of an underwater acoustic transducer in an active sonar transmission system. The electrical impedance characteristics of the underwater acoustic transducer are experimentally analyzed, and the sonar transmitter is composed of a single-phase full-bridge inverter, an LC filter, and a matching circuit. In this paper, the design and output control method of the sonar transmitter is proposed to protect the transmitter and transducer. It can secure stable output voltage characteristics even if it transmits the Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM) signal. The validity is verified through the simulation and the experiment.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.135-141
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• 2016

Recently, the needs for the development and application of marine robots are increasing as marine accidents occur frequently. However, it is very difficult to acquire the information by utilizing marine robots in the marine environment. Therefore, the needs for the researches of sensor networks which are composed of underwater, surface and aerial robots are increasing in order to acquire the information effectively as the information from heterogeneous robots has less limitation in terms of coverage and connectivity. Although various researches of the sensor network which is based on marine robots have been executed, all of the underwater, surface and aerial robots have not yet been considered in the sensor network. To solve this problem, a collaborative control method based on the acoustic information and image by the sonars of the underwater robot, the acoustic information by the sonar of the surface robot and the optical image by the camera of the static-floating aerial robot is proposed. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the collaborative control of a MUR(Micro Underwater Robot) with an OAS(Obstacle Avoidance Sonar) and a SSS(Side Scan Sonar), a MSR(Micro Surface Robot) with an OAS and a BMAR(Balloon-based Micro Aerial Robot) with a camera are executed. The test results show the possibility of real applications and the need for additional studies.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.440-446
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• 2015

Acoustic signal is emitted from a vessel and received by a cylindrical array sensor at some distance from the vessel. Acoustic signal is the source for a cylindrical array sensor which is designed to detect the acoustic signal. Cylindrical array sensors seldom have an ideal hydrodynamic shape and are not sufficiently robust to survive without some protection and they are normally housed in a sonar dome. Reflected signals by some structure inside a sonar dome make unwanted signals. Therefore, an acoustic baffle is used to minimize unwanted signals. The performance of the acoustic baffles can be determined from the acoustic numerical analysis at the design stage. In this study, finite element method was used to analyze the acoustic field around the cylindrical array sensor and baffle effects. The baffle performance can be defined the echo reduction. To show the baffle performance, the specimens were made for pulse tube test and echo reductions were measured during the test. In this paper, the effect of echo reduction of the acoustic baffle was discussed.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.94-100
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• 2017

In the case of the side scan sonar operated by the towing method, the underwater structure electric jig was developed because there is a difficulty in the cross-sectional survey that the user wants when conducting the survey. However, in the case of the sound wave photographing method using the electric jig, since the boat and the sonar behaves as one body, data distortion has occurred due to various problems according to working environment, such as, the rolling phenomenon of the boat due to the wave and the fluctuation of the sonic image due to the inoperability of the boat driver. Therefore, in order to solve the image blurring caused by the operation of the equipment for underwater survey of the existing side scan sonar, in this research, the program was supplemented to enable the shake correction by attaching the shake correction sensor and developing the shake correction algorithm. In order to verify the improvement of the sonar data resolution, the sonic images before and after the shake correction were collected through on-site investigation and the analysis of the sonic image data acquired by a diver measuring the actual damage length and depth. This study is expected to contribute to the development of sonar imaging technique of the underwater surface of the structure and bed surface of the sea or a river using the side scan sonar in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.2569-2574
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• 2012

HMS(Hull Mount Sonar) equipment mounted on PCC(Patrol Combat Corvette) is suitably designed for active mode, and the specific character of sensor or system is not appropriate for the frequency range to detect a torpedo. In this article, in order to implement the function of detecting torpedoes with HMS of existing PCC, I will analyze the feature of input signals each PCCs and design a circuit to compensate reversely for the input signal in certain frequency. And also, I will suggest the most adequate torpedo defense system suitable for the special operating environment and the characteristic of naval vessels, implementing functions such as AGC of input signal and fixing the frequency range of different input signals per different warships.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.579-589
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• 2008

In the past few years, there are many studies and researches of the underwater vehicles which are carried out its mission using sonar sensors. MSCL(Marine System Control Lab.) at Inha University developed test-bed small ROV, ISRO. ISRO is an open-frame type and has 4 thrusters. ISRO can control 4 motions i.e surge, sway, yaw and heave with sonar sensors. ISRO is developed for inspection of ship hull, marine structure, plant of lake or river and so on. When ROV ISRO inspects something, it is necessary to control the position of ROV ISRO's for the movement and anti-collision with structures in the underwater. In this paper, we deal with the development of a small ROV and verification of the position control system via simulation and experiment using sonar sensors.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2016

TASS(Towed Array Sonar System) is a sonar system which tows the sensor array behind a platform. Array shape is generally assumed to be a straight line. But the array shape is often distorted by oceanic current or platform maneuvering which causes the performance loss of signal processing method like beamforming. So array shape estimation methods are needed. Typically the method based on Kalman filter using heading sensor is used. In practice, the measurement is corrupted by biases which are caused by rotation of the tow cable, varying magnetic fields and slowly varying stresses in the mechanical construction. Although they can't be calibrated but can be estimated. In this paper, we suggest the array shape estimation method based on Kalman filter compensating the sensor biases.