• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1153-1164
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• 2024

In recent years, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have been used to search for lost or stolen radioactive sources to avoid radiation exposure for operators. To achieve autonomous localization of radioactive sources, the UGVs must have the ability to automatically determine the next radiation measurement location instead of following a predefined path. Also, the radiation field of radioactive sources has to be reconstructed or inverted utilizing discrete measurements to obtain the radiation intensity distribution in the area of interest. In this study, we propose an effective source localization framework and method, in which UGVs are able to autonomously explore in the radiation area to determine the location of radioactive sources through an iterative process: path planning, radiation field reconstruction and estimation of source location. In the search process, the next radiation measurement point of the UGVs is fully predicted by the design path planning algorithm. After obtaining the measurement points and their radiation measurements, the radiation field of radioactive sources is reconstructed by the Gaussian process regression (GPR) model based on machine learning method. Based on the reconstructed radiation field, the locations of radioactive sources can be determined by the peak analysis method. The proposed method is verified through extensive simulation experiments, and the real source localization experiment on a Cs-137 point source shows that the proposed method can accurately locate the radioactive source with an error of approximately 0.30 m. The experimental results reveal the important practicality of our proposed method for source autonomous localization tasks.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2021

As data acquisition using unmanned aerial vehicles is widely used, as one of the ways to increase the accuracy of photogrammetry using unmanned aerial vehicles, a method of inputting both vertical and oblique images in bundle adjustment of aerial triangulation has been proposed. In this study, in order to find a suitable method for increasing the accuracy of photogrammetry, the accuracy of the case of adjusting the oblique images taken at different shooting angles and the case of adjusting the oblique images with different shooting angles at the same time with the vertical images were compared. As a result of the study, it was found that the error of the checkpoint decreases as the angle of the input oblique images increases. In particular, when the vertical images and oblique images are used together, the height error decreases significantly as the angle of the oblique images increases. The current 『Aerial Photogrammetry Work Regulation』 requires RMSE (Root Mean Square Error), which is the same as GSD (Ground Spatial Distance) of a vertical image. When using an oblique images with a shooting angle of 50°, a result close to this standard is obtained. If the vertical images and the 50° oblique images were adjusted at the same time, the work regulations could be satisfied. Using the results of this study, it is expected that photogrammetry using low-cost cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles will become more active.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.711-720
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• 2015

Recently many studies of Radar systems mounted on ground vehicles for autonomous driving, SLAM (Simultaneous localization and mapping) and collision avoidance have been reported. Since several pixels per an object may be generated in a close-range radar application, a width of an object can be estimated automatically by various signal processing techniques. In this paper, we tried to attempt to develop an algorithm to estimate obstacle width using Radar images. The proposed method consists of 5 steps - 1) background clutter reduction, 2) local peak pixel detection, 3) region growing, 4) contour extraction and 5)width calculation. For the performance validation of our method, we performed the test width estimation using a real data of two cars acquired by commercial radar system - I200 manufactured by Navtech. As a result, we verified that the proposed method can estimate the widths of targets.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2020

In this paper, system that includes multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered. The vehicles are equipped with a mission computer for a specific mission and equipment. The mission equipment operates based on the time of mission computer. Also, data collected by flight computer and mission computer is saved with the time of each operating system. Generally, time offset between multiple computers always exists, though the computers are connected to the Internet. When the data collected by multiple computers is combined, the time offset causes damage on reliability of the combined data. Computers that connected to the Internet are synchronized by network time protocol (NTP). This paper proposes a system that the time of multiple mission computers are synchronized by the same NTP server to minimize the time offset. In the results of the measurement, the system time offset of multiple mission computer is maintained within 10ms from the system time of the server computer.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.54-65
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• 2007

Parameter optimization technique is applied to planning UAVs(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) path under artificial enemy radar threats. The ground enemy radar threats are characterized in terms of RCS(Radar Cross Section) parameter which is a measure of exposure to the radar threats. Mathematical model of the RCS parameter is constructed by a simple mathematical function in the three-dimensional space. The RCS model is directly linked to the UAVs attitude angles in generating a desired trajectory by reducing the RCS parameter. The RCS parameter is explicitly included in a performance index for optimization. The resultant UAVs trajectory satisfies geometrical boundary conditions while minimizing a weighted combination of the flight time and the measure of ground radar threat expressed in RCS.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.408-415
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• 2019

Basically the dynamics of the fixed-wing aircraft is based on the airspeed which is relative to the wind, but when it comes to the track guidance and control, ground speed is the factor to be considered. Especially in the case of low-speed fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles the difference between the airspeed and the ground speed is significant depending on wind conditions, so that the heading control and the course control have to be designed separately. This paper represents the course control method using the pre-designed heading control gains which meet the desired characteristics. Also, waypoint guidance and control algorithms are suggested applying this control method. Finally the robustness of the proposed method is confirmed by 6-DoF nonlinear simulation.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.1539-1548
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• 2016

Beamforming technique at the ground station is known to be effective in obtaining coverage extension or SNR gain for communication with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). When a UAV moves, periodic beam tracking is necessary to maintain beam gain. In order to track beams for multiple UAVs, the ground station needs to receive different preamble sequences from multiple UAVs. In this paper, a preamble sequence design technique is proposed for beam tracking in a GMSK-based communication system with multiple UAVs. Hadamard sequence is considered for the design of preamble sequence due to its ideal cross-correlation property. A preamble sequence appropriate for a GMSK communication system with multiple UAVs is proposed after analyzing the properties of received signal in a GMSK system with the input of Hadamard sequence.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.314-322
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• 2023

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles is rapidly increasing in order to effectively utilize limited manpower and minimize casualties on the battlefield. The requirements for ground control equipment vary depending on the operating concept and environment of the unmanned aerial system, but there are still common requirements. However, the lack of standardized system configurations to meet these common requirements makes it difficult to reuse common functions, leading to continuous acquisition costs. To solve this problem, this paper develops a Korean version of the UCS model using the UCS architecture. Furthermore, after designing elements related to service development not specified in the architecture (such as framework, communication middleware, service structure, etc.), we develop a Boilerplate to enhance developers' work efficiency based on this. The results of this study will serve as a foundation for effectively and economically carrying out the development of ground control equipment for unmanned aerial systems.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.463-474
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• 2015

Future Ground Control Stations (GCSs) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) teleoperation targets better situational awareness by providing extra motion cues to stimulate the vestibular system. This paper proposes a new virtual environment for long range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control via Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) communications, which is based on motion platforms. It generates motion cues for the teleoperator for extra sensory stimulation to enhance the guidance performance. The proposed environment employs the distributed component simulation over GSM network as a simulation platform. GSM communications are utilized as a multi-hop communication network, which is similar to global satellite communications. It considers a UAV mathematical model and wind turbulence effects to simulate a realistic UAV dynamics. Moreover, the proposed virtual environment simulates a Multiple Axis Rotating Device (MARD) as Human Machine Interface (HMI) device to provide a complete delay analysis. The demonstrated measurements cover Graphical User Interface (GUI) capabilities, NLoS GSM communications delay, MARD performance, and different software workload. The proposed virtual environment succeeded to provide visual and vestibular feedbacks for teleoperators via GSM networks. The overall system performance is acceptable relative to other Line-of-Sight (LoS) systems, which promises a good potential for future long range, medium altitude UAV teleoperation researches.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2023

This study evaluated slope stability through a case study to determine the disaster risks associated with increased deforestation in structures, including schools and apartments, located in urban areas adjacent to slopes. The slope behind the ○○ High School in Gwangju, Korea, collapsed owing to heavy rain in August 2018. Historically, rainwater drained well around the slope during the rainy season. However, during the collapse, a large amount of seepage water flowed out of the slope surface and a shallow failure occurred along the saturated soil layer. To analyze the cause of the collapse, the images of the upper area of the slope, which could not be directly identified, were captured using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A digital elevation model of the slope was constructed through image analysis, making it possible to calculate the rainfall flow direction and the area, width, and length of logging areas. The change in the instability of the slope over time owing to rainfall lasting ten days before the collapse was analyzed through numerical analysis. Imaging techniques based on the UAV images were found to be effective in analyzing ground disaster risk maps in urban areas. Furthermore, the analysis was found to predict the failure before its actual occurrence.