• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2013

In this paper, we discuss a 3-dimensional localization sensor node using EM waves (Electromagnetic waves) with RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). Generally EM waves cannot be used in underwater environment, because the signal is highly attenuated by the water medium according to the distance. Although the signal quickly reduces in underwater, the reducing tendency is very clear and uniform. Hence EM waves have possibility as underwater distance sensors. The authors have verified the possibility by theory and several experiments, and developed calibration methods in case of linear and planer environment. For 3-dimensional localization in underwater, it must be known antenna's radiation pattern property in electric plane(called E-plane). In this paper, we proceed experiments to verify attenuation tendency with z axis movement, PLF (Polarization Loss Factor) and ILF (Inclination Loss Factor) with its theoretical approach.

• 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.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.702-708
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• 2013

Underwater TRN (Underwater Terrain Referenced Navigation) estimates an underwater vehicle state by measuring a distance between the vehicle and undersea terrain, and comparing it with the known terrain database. TRN belongs to absolute navigation methods, which are used to compensate a drift error of dead reckoning measurements such as IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) or DVL (Doppler Velocity Log). However, underwater TRN is different to other absolute methods such as USBL (Ultra-Short Baseline) and LBL (Long Baseline), because TRN is independent of the external environment. As a magnetic-field-based navigation, TRN is a kind of geophysical navigation. This paper develops an EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) formulation for underwater TRN. A filter propagation part is composed by an inertial navigation system, and a filter update is executed with echo-sounder measurement. For large-initial-error cases, an adaptive EKF approach is also presented, to keep the filter be stable. At the end, simulation studies are given to verify the performance of the proposed TRN filter. With simplified sensor and terrain database models, the simulation results show that the underwater TRN could support conventional underwater navigation methods.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.641-648
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• 2009

Currently several kinds of sensor localization methods have been developed for terrestrial wireless sensor networks. This study, in order to extend the field to underwater environments, a localization technique is studied for UWSNs (Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks). In underwater environments, RF (Radio Frequency) signal is not suitable for underwater usage because of extremely limited propagation. Because of that reason UWSNs should be constituted with acoustic modems. But, to realize underwater application, we can borrow many design principles from ongoing research for terrestrial environments. So, in this paper we introduce the modified localization algorithm using ToA method which is based on the terrestrial research. First of all, we study the localization techniques for terrestrial environments where we investigate possible methods to underwater environment. And then the appropriate algorithm is presented in the underwater usage. Finally the proposed underwater based localization algorithm is evaluated by using computer.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.688-693
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• 2013

This paper proposes a new method on attitude control of an underwater robot by using five ABTs (Attitude Ballast Tank). A pipe is connected to the bottom of the ABTs and transfers water by a pump, while another pipe is connected to the top of the ABT to transfer air. The buoyancy center of the underwater robot can be changed by means of the water transfer. This way, the attitude of the underwater robot can be maintained and/or controlled as desired. The changes of the center of gravity and the buoyancy central are estimated by a Lagrangian function which is similar to that for an inverted pendulum. The controller in this paper is designed by modeling of the underwater robot and selecting suitable gains of a PD controller which has fast response characteristics. This paper shows the possibility of the attitude control of an underwater robot by changing the center of gravity and the buoyancy center of the robot. Moreover, experimental results verify that the controller is effective in maintaining Roll/Pitch of the underwater robot with very low power consumption.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.928-933
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• 2012

In this paper, the IR and compass sensors for the underwater system were used. The walls of the water tank have been recognized and avoided treating the walls as obstacles by the bio-mimetic underwater robot. This paper is consists of two parts: 1.The hardware part for the IR and compass sensors and 2.The software part for obstacle avoidance algorithm while the bio-mimetic robot is swimming with the obstacle recognition. Firstly, the hardware part controls through the RS-485 communications between a microcontroller and the bio-mimetic underwater robot. The software part is simulated for obstacle recognition and collision avoidance based upon the data from IR and compass sensors. Actually, the bio-mimetic underwater robot recognizes where is the obstacle as well as where is the bio-mimetic robot itself while it is moving in the water. While the underwater robot is moving at a constant speed recognizing the wall of water tank as an obstacle, an obstacle avoidance algorithm is applied for the wall following swimming based upon the IR and compass sensor data. As the results of this research, it is concluded that the bio-mimetic underwater robot can follow the wall of the water tank efficiently, while it is avoiding collision to the wall.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.178-188
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• 2019

When burying underwater cables using robots, heading control is one of the key functions for the robots to improve task efficiency. This paper addresses the heading control issue for URI-T, an ROV for underwater construction tasks, including the burial and maintenance of cables or small diameter pipelines. Through modeling and identifying the heading motion of URI-T, the dynamic characteristics and input limitation are analyzed. Based on the identification results, a PD type controller with appropriate input treatment is designed for the heading control of URI-T. The performance of the heading controller was verified in water tank experiments. The field applicability of the proposed controller was also evaluated through the sea trial of URI-T at the East Sea, with a water depth of 500 m.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.442-449
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• 2004

As underwater robotic vehicles (URVs) become attractive for more sophisticated underwater tasks, the demand of high performance in terms of accuracy and dexterity has been increased. An autonomous underwater robotic vehicle, ODIN (Omni-Directional Intelligent Navigator) was designed and built at the Autonomous Systems Laboratory of the University of Hawaii in 1991. Since 1991, various studies were conducted on ODIN and have contributed to the advancement in underwater robotics. Its refurbished model ODIN II was based on VxWorks in VMEbus. Recently, ODIN was born again as a PC based system, ODIN III with unique features such as new vehicle system software architecture with an objective-oriented concept, a graphical user interface, and an independent and modular structure using a Dynamic Linking Library (DLL) based on the Windows operating system. ODIN III software architecture offers an ideal environment where various studies for advanced URV technology can be conducted. This paper describes software architecture of ODIN III and presents initial experimental results of fine motion control on ODIN III.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.259-266
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• 2012

In these days, researches about underwater robots have been actively in progress for the purposes of ocean detection and resource exploration. Unlike general underwater robots such as ROV(Remotely Operated Vehicle) and AUV(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) which have propellers, an articulated underwater robot which is called Crabster has been being developed in KORDI(Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute) with many cooperation organizations since 2010. The robot is expected to be able to walk and swim under the sea with its legs. Among many researching fields of this project, we are focusing on a swimming section. In order to find effective swimming locomotion for the robot, we approached this subject in terms of Biomimetics. As a model of optimized swimming organism in nature, diving beetles were chosen. In the paper, swimming motions of diving beetles were analyzed in viewpoint of robotics for applying them into the swimming motion of the robot. After modeling the kinematics of diving beetle through robotics engineering technique, we obtained swimming patterns of the one of living diving beetles, and then compared them with calculated optimal swimming patterns of a robot leg. As the first trial to compare the locomotion data of legs of the diving beetle with a robot leg, we have sorted two representative swimming patterns such as forwarding and turning. Experimental environment has been set up to get the motion data of diving beetles. The experimental equipment consists of a transparent aquarium and a high speed camera. Various swimming motions of diving beetles were recorded with the camera. After classifying swimming patterns of the diving beetle, we can get angular data of each joint on hind legs by image processing software, Image J. The data were applied to an optimized algorithm for swimming of a robot leg which was designed by robotics engineering technique. Through this procedure, simulated results which show trajectories of a robot leg were compared with trajectories of a leg of a diving beetle in desired directions. As a result, we confirmed considerable similarity in the result of trajectory and joint angles comparison.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.232-241
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• 2014

This paper proposes an underwater localization algorithm using probabilistic object recognition. It is organized as follows; 1) recognizing artificial objects using imaging sonar, and 2) localizing the recognized objects and the vehicle using EKF(Extended Kalman Filter) based SLAM. For this purpose, we develop artificial landmarks to be recognized even under the unstable sonar images induced by noise. Moreover, a probabilistic recognition framework is proposed. In this way, the distance and bearing of the recognized artificial landmarks are acquired to perform the localization of the underwater vehicle. Using the recognized objects, EKF-based SLAM is carried out and results in a path of the underwater vehicle and the location of landmarks. The proposed localization algorithm is verified by experiments in a basin.