• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.125-129
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• 2023

Age of Information (AoI) has been introduced in wireless networked control systems (WNCSs) to guarantee timely status updates. In addition, as the edge computing (EC) architecture has been deployed in NCS, EC close to sensors can be exploited to collect status updates from sensors and provide control decisions to actuators. However, when lots of sensors simultaneously deliver status updates, EC can be overloaded, which cannot satisfy the AoI requirement. To mitigate this problem, this paper uses actuators with computing capability that can directly receive the status updates from sensors and determine the control decision without the help of EC. To analyze the AoI of the actuation update via EC or directly using actuators, this paper developed an analytic model based on timing diagrams. Extensive simulation results are included to verify the analytic model and to show the AoI with various settings.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.954-958
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• 2012

This paper reports a flexible patch rectenna for wireless actuation of cellulose electro-active paper actuator (EAPap). The patch rectenna consists of rectifying circuit layer and ground layer, which converts microwave to dc power so as to wirelessly supply the power to the actuator. Patch rectennas are designed with different slot length at the ground layer. The fabricated devices are characterized depending on different substrates and polarization angles. The EAPap integrated with the patch rectenna is actuated by the microwave power. Detailed fabrication, characterization and demonstration of the integrated rectenna-EAPap actuator are explained.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.423-443
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• 2009

We present the design and implementation of a unique sensing and actuation application -- the Illuminator: a sensor network-based intelligent light control system for entertainment and media production. Unlike most sensor network applications, which focus on sensing alone, a distinctive aspect of the Illuminator is that it closes the loop from light sensing to lighting control. We describe the Illuminator's design requirements, system architecture, algorithms, implementation and experimental results. The system uses the Illumimote, a multi-modal and high fidelity light sensor module well-suited for wireless sensor networks, to satisfy the high-performance light sensing requirements of entertainment and media production applications. The Illuminator system is a toolset to characterize the illumination profile of a deployed set of fixed position lights, generate desired lighting effects for moving targets (actors, scenic elements, etc.) based on user constraints expressed in a formal language, and to assist in the set up of lights to achieve the same illumination profile in multiple venues. After characterizing deployed lights, the Illuminator computes optimal light settings at run-time to achieve a user-specified actuation profile, using an optimization framework based on a genetic algorithm. Uniquely, it can use deployed sensors to incorporate changing ambient lighting conditions and moving targets into actuation. Experimental results demonstrate that the Illuminator handles various high-level user requirements and generates an optimal light actuation profile. These results suggest that the Illuminator system supports entertainment and media production applications.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.731-748
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• 2010

Impact detection and health monitoring are very important tasks for civil infrastructures, such as bridges. Piezoceramic based transducers are widely researched for these tasks due to the piezoceramic material's inherent advantages of dual sensing and actuation ability, which enables the active sensing method for structural health monitoring with a network of piezoceramic transducers. Wireless sensor networks, which are easy for deployment, have great potential in health monitoring systems for large civil infrastructures to identify early-age damages. However, most commercial wireless sensor networks are general purpose and may not be optimized for a network of piezoceramic based transducers. Wireless networks of piezoceramic transducers for active sensing have special requirements, such as relatively high sampling rate (at a few-thousand Hz), incorporation of an amplifier for the piezoceramic element for actuation, and low energy consumption for actuation. In this paper, a wireless network is specially designed for piezoceramic transducers to implement impact detection and active sensing for structural health monitoring. A power efficient embedded system is designed to form the wireless sensor network that is capable of high sampling rate. A 32 bit RISC wireless microcontroller is chosen as the main processor. Detailed design of the hardware system and software system of the wireless sensor network is presented in this paper. To verify the functionality of the wireless sensor network, it is deployed on a two-story concrete frame with embedded piezoceramic transducers, and the active sensing property of piezoceramic material is used to detect the damage in the structure. Experimental results show that the wireless sensor network can effectively implement active sensing and impact detection with high sampling rate while maintaining low power consumption by performing offline data processing and minimizing wireless communication.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.282-284
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• 2011

Based on graphene oxide and multi-walled carbon nanotube layers, a wireless bi-layer actuator that can be remotely controlled with an electromagnetic induction system has been developed. The graphene-based bi-layer actuator exhibits a large one-way bending deformation under eddy current stimuli due to asymmetrical responses originating from the temperature difference of the two different carbon layers. In order to validate one-way bending actuation, the coefficients of thermal expansion of carbon nanotube and graphene oxide are mathematically formulated in this study based on the atomic bonding energy related to the bonding length. The newly designed graphene-based bi-layer actuator is highly sensitive to electromagnetic wave irradiation thus it can trigger a new actuation mode for the realization of remotely controllable actuators and is expected to have potential applications in various wireless systems.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.155-161
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• 2017

This paper presents a new nonmechanical rehabilitation system driven by magnetic force. Typically, finger rehabilitation mechanisms are complex mechanical systems. The proposed method allows wireless operation, a simple configuration, and easy installation on the hand for active actuation by magnetic force. The system consists of a driving coil, driving magnets (M1), and auxiliary magnets (M2 and M3), respectively, at the finger, palm, and the center of coil. The magnets and the driving coil produce three magnetic forces for an active motions of the finger. During active actuations, magnetic attractive forces between M1 and M2 or between M1 and M3 enhance the flexion/extension motions. The proposed system simply improves the extension motion of the finger using a magnetic system. In this system, the maximum force and angular variation of the extension motion were 0.438 N and $49^{\circ}$, respectively. We analyzed the magnetic interaction in the system and verified finger's active actuation.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.147-150
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• 2005

Low actuation voltage and no contact stiction are the important factors to apply MEMS RF switches to mobile devices. Conventional electrostatic MEMS RF switches require several tens of voltages for actuation. In this paper we propose PAS MEMS RF switch which adopt PZT actuators and seesaw cantilevers to meet the above requirements. The fundamental structures of PAS MEMS switch were designed, optimized, and fabricated. Through the developed processes PAS SPDT MEMS RF switches were successfully fabricated on 4" wafers and they showed good electrical properties. The driving voltage was less than 5 volts. And the insertion loss was -0.5dB and the isolation was 35dB at 5GHz. The switching speed was about 5kHz. So these MEMS RF switches can be applicable to mobile communication devices or wireless multi-media devices at lower than 6GHz.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Information Technology Applications Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.225-228
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• 2005

A context-aware services platform supporting mobile agents consists of sensor nodes and a sensor coordinator. Sensor nodes collect environmental information and transmit the collected information to the sensor coordinator through wireless sensor networks. The sensor coordinator passes the information to the context-aware service module, and the mobile agent. The context-aware service module or the mobile agent performs services suitable for a user's situation based on the environmental information and a service actuation message is delivered to an actuation node through the sensor coordinator. In this paper, we present a context-aware services platform structure employed in our project, and describe context-aware services platform interfaces with a context-aware service module and mobile agents.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.881-887
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• 2016

In this study, the vibration-based tactile actuator for smart wear applications is presented by using piezoelectric ceramic transducers. The compact wireless actuation system is constructed with a high voltage piezoelectric amplifier, a microcontroller, wireless communication module, and rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. For the wireless communication between a hardware and an operator, the bluetooth-based wireless communication system is prepared and the user interface is provided via smart phone applications. From a series of experimental user studies, it is demonstrated that the proposed vibro-tactile actuator based on piezoelectric ceramic transducers can be effectively applied to smart wear applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1211-1216
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• 2013

In this study, a dynamic camera actuation system for simultaneous in situ image acquisition is developed to achieve real-time observation of transient liquid flow on a lab-on-a-disk. A disk-type electric circuit, namely circuit-on-a-disk, co-rotated with the lab-on-a-disk improves the dynamic image acquisition ability in terms of a frame rate. The circuit-on-a-disk is comprised of a camera connected with a motor, a microprocessor and a wireless communication module. The camera connected with the motor enables to realize dynamic tracking of a transient flow and real-time image acquisition. The obtained images can be simultaneously transferred by a video/audio transmitter unit to a personal computer. Also, the microprocessor receives signals from the personal computer, and then controls the focusing position of the camera. We are expecting that heaters, sensors, and light sources also can be integrated on the circuit-on-a-disk, and they will enable various functional actuations as well as precise image acquisition.