• Journal of the Korean Academy of Clinical Electrophysiology
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.43-50
• /
• 2010

Purpose : The objective of this study is to effect of an aquatic rotation control and obstacle avoidance when conducted underwater on hemiplegia patient's balance ability and vestibular function. Methods : Twelve hemiplegia patients participated and were randomly assigned to a control group(I) with standard physical therapy and an aquatic group(II) with an aquatic rotation control, obstacle avoidance and standard physical therapy as well. The aquatic group trained using a Halliwick rotation control and obstacle avoidance through 3 times per week over 6 weeks. For all subjects, vestibular function, their balance, the change of electrooculogram (EOG), the change of accelerometer axis and torsiometer according to visual sense, vestibular sense with galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) or not during leg close stance were measured. Results : The EOG in the vertical and horizontal (p<0.05) were both significantly lowered. The change was significantly lower in the trajectory range of motion of trunk and spine with torsiometer when leg close stand (p<0.01) and leg close stand with GVS (p<0.01). The centre of gravity accelerated, there were reduced significantly difference X and Y axis of accelerometer during the closing of the leg without vision (p<0.05). There were reduced significantly difference X and Z axis of accelerometer during the closing of the leg with GVS (p<0.05). There were reduced significantly difference X and Z axis of accelerometer during the closing of the leg and close eyes with GVS (p<0.05). Conclusion : The balance ability, vestibular system and postural control is improved.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.64 no.7
• /
• pp.1081-1087
• /
• 2015

Recently, the researches of aerial drones are actively executed in various areas, the researches of surface drones and underwater drones are also executed in marine areas. In case of surface drones, they essentially utilize acoustic information by the sonar and consequently have the local information in the obstacle avoidance as the sonar has the limitations due to the beam width and detection range. In order to overcome this, more global method that utilizes optical images by the camera is required. Related to this, the aerial drone with the camera is desirable as the obstacle detection of the surface drone with the camera is impossible in case of the existence of clutters. However, the dynamic-floating aerial drone is not desirable for the long-term operation as its power consumption is high. To solve this problem, a collaborative obstacle avoidance method based on the acoustic information by the sonar of the surface drone and the optical image by the camera of the static-floating aerial drone is proposed. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the collaborative obstacle avoidances of a MSD(Micro Surface Drone) with an OAS(Obstacle Avoidance Sonar) and a BMAD(Balloon-based Micro Aerial Drone) with a camera are executed. The test results show the possibility of real applications and the need for additional studies.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.425-430
• /
• 2013

Robust and high speed underwater communication is severely limited when compared to communications in terrestial. In free space, RF communication operates over long distances at high data rates. However, the obstacle in seawater is the severe attenuation due to the conducting nature. Acoustic modems are capable of long range communication up to several tens of kilometers, but it has low data-rate, high power consumption and low propagation speed. An alternative means of underwater communication is based on optics, wherein high data rates are possible. In this paper, the characteristics of underwater channel in the range of visible wavelength is investigated. And the possibility of optical wireless communication in underwater is also described. The LED-based transceiver and CMOS sensor module are integrated in the system, and the performance of image transmission was demonstrated.

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

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
• /
• v.16A no.4
• /
• pp.255-262
• /
• 2009

We present an autonomous entertainment dolphin robot system based on ubiquitous sensor networks(USN). Generally, It is impossible to apply to USN and GPS in underwater bio-mimetic robots. But An Entertainment dolphin robot which presented in this paper operates on the water not underwater. Navigation of the underwater robot in a given area is based on GPS data and the acquired position information from deployed USN motes with emphasis on user interaction. Body structures, sensors and actuators, governing microcontroller boards, and swimming and interaction features are described for a typical entertainment dolphin robot. Actions of mouth-opening, tail splash or water blow through a spout hole are typical responses of interaction when touch sensors on the body detect users' demand. Dolphin robots should turn towards people who demand to interact with them, while swimming autonomously. The functions that are relevant to human-robot interaction as well as robot movement such as path control, obstacle detection and avoidance are managed by microcontrollers on the robot for autonomy. Distance errors are calibrated periodically by the known position data of the deployed USN motes.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.312-318
• /
• 2012

Recently, although the need of marine robots being raised in extreme areas, the basis is very deficient. Fortunately, as the robot competition is vitalizing and the need of the robot education is increasing, it is desirable to establish the basis of the R&D and industrialization of marine robots and to train professionals through the development and diffusion of marine robot kits. However, in conventional case, there is no underwater-type autonomous marine robot kit for the marine robot competition, which has the abilities of the underwater locomotion and target detection and avoidance. To solve this problem, a marine robot kit which has the abilities of the underwater locomotion, the waterproof and the weight adjustment, is developed. To verify the performance of the developed kit, test and evaluation such as surge, pitch, yaw, obstacle avoidance is performed. The test and evaluation results show that the possibility of the real applications of the developed kit.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
• /
• v.29 no.1_2
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2002

This paper describes a heuristic search technique carrying out collision avoidance for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles(AUVs). Fuzzy relational products are used as the mathematical implement for the analysis and synthesis of relations between obstacles that are met in the navigation environment and available candidate nodes. In this paper, we propose a more effective evaluation function that reflects the heuristic information of domain experts on obstacle clearance, and an advanced heuristic search method performing collision avoidance for AUVs. The search technique adopts fuzzy relational products to conduct path-planning of intelligent navigation system. In order to verify the performance of proposed heuristic search, it is compared with $A^*$ search method through simulation in view of the CPU time, the optimization of path and the amount of memory usage.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.887-894
• /
• 2016

In the underwater acoustic communication channels, a multipath reflection becomes the cause of obstacle. To solve this problem, a rake receiver has been required for which one could take the time diversity. However, there is a concern about using incorrect path to recover signals with a high weighting value as underwater acoustic communication channels have severe time-variant property. In order to prevent these problem, a rake receiver is proposed which is based on BER(bit error rate) train sequence duration. The performance is evaluated through lake trials; there are three methods that are a proposed rake receiver, a conventional rake receiver, and a non-rake receiver. As a result, the number of bit errors in the proposed rake receiver, that of bit errors in the conventional rake receiver, and that of bit errors in the non-rake receiver is 8, 45, and 72, respectively.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.8 no.8
• /
• pp.1213-1218
• /
• 2013

Recently, although the need of marine robots such as the underwater robot, surface robot and airborne robot being raised in extreme areas, the basis is very deficient. Fortunately, as the need of the robot education is increasing, it is desirable to establish the R&D basis of marine robots and to train future talents through the development and diffusion of marine robot kits. However, in conventional case, there is no marine robot-kit based on the balloon, which has the abilities of the airborne locomotion and obstacle avoidance. To solve this problem, a balloon-based autonomous airborne robot-kit that has the ability of the obstacle avoidance with an infrared sensor, is developed. The test and evaluation results show the possibility of the real applications and the necessity of additional work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2010.10a
• /
• pp.701-704
• /
• 2010

In studying an autonomous navigation technique of UUV(Unmaned Underwater Vehicle), one of the many fundamental techniques is to plan a 3D path to complete the mission via realtime information received by sonar showing landscapes and obstacles. The simulation system is necessary to verify the algorithm in researching and developing 3D path planning of UUV. It is because 3D path planning of UUV should consider guide control, the dynamics, ocean environment, and search sonar models on the basis of obstacle avoidance technique. The simulation system developed in this paper visualizes the UUV's movement of avoiding obstacles, arriving at the goal position via waypoints by using C++ and OpenGL. Plus, it enables the user to setup the various underwater environment and obstacles by a user interface. It also provides a generalization that can verify path planning algorithm of UUV studied in any developing environment.