• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.149-156
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• 2019

In the field of maintenance of power transmission lines, drones have been used for their patrol and inspection by KEPCO since 2017. This drone technology was originally developed by KEPCO Research Institute, and now workers from four regional offices of KEPCO have directly applied this technology to the drone patrol and inspection tasks. In the drone inspection system, a drone with an optical zooming camera and a thermal camera can fly automatically along the transmission lines by the ground control system developed by KEPCO Research Institute, but its camera gimbal has been remotely controlled by a field worker. Especially the drone patrol and inspection has been mainly applied for the transmission lines in the inaccessible areas such as regions with river-crossings, sea-crossings and mountains. There are often communication disruptions between the drone and its remote controller in such extreme fields of mountain areas with many barriers. This problem may cause the camera gimbal be out of control, even though the inspection drone flies along the flight path well. In addition, interference with the reception of real-time transmitted videos makes the field worker unable to operate it. To solve these problems, we have developed the auto-tracking camera gimbal system with deep learning method. The camera gimbal can track the transmission line automatically, even when the transmitted video on a remote controller is intermittently unavailable. To show the effectiveness of our camera gimbal system, its field test results will be presented in this paper.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.84-92
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• 2022

The electro-hydrostatic actuator (EHA) recently has been used in flight control fields for aircraft because of its benefits of minimizing oil leakage and weight, improving safety, and etc. while independently operating the hydraulic power source and eliminating complex hydraulic piping. The aircraft of which EHA is installed inside, has the thermal management issue of EHA, because of its limited cooling source as compared with the aircraft which installs the traditional central hydraulic system. So, the thermal analysis model which predicts the thermal characteristics of EHA, is required to resolve this thermal management issue. In this study, an oil circulation circuit inside the hydraulic power module comprised of hydraulic pump and electrical motor for EHA was applied. This is for the purpose of developing the internal rotary group of hydraulic power module, which operates under the conditions of high rotation speed and hydraulic pressure. After formulating an appropriate thermal analysis model, the thermal analysis results with oil cooled or no oil cooled hydraulic control module were compared and reviewed, for the purpose of predicting the thermal characteristics of EHA.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.697-702
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• 2023

Recently, with the introduction of drones, a core technology of the 4th industrial revolution, various convergence education using drones is being conducted in school education sites. In particular, drone theory and practice education is being conducted in connection with free semester classes and career exploration. The drone convergence education program has higher learner satisfaction than simple demonstration and practice education, and the learning effect is high due to direct practical experience. However, since practical education is being conducted for a large number of learners, it is impossible to restrict and control the flight of a large number of drones in a limited place. In this paper, we propose a monitoring system that allows the instructor to monitor multiple drones in real time and learners to recognize collisions between drones in advance when multiple drones are operated, focusing on education operated in schools. The communication module used in the experiment was equipped with GPS in Murata LoRa, and the server and client were configured to enable monitoring based on the location data received in real time. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated in an open space, and it was confirmed that the communication signal was good up to a distance of about 120m. In other words, it was confirmed that 25 educational drones can be controlled within a range of 240m and the instructor can monitor them.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.225-285
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• 2017

In regard to the regulations related to the RPA(Remotely Piloted Aircraft), which is sometimes called in other countries as UA(Unmanned Aircraft), ICAO stipulates the regulations in the 'RPAS manual (2015)' in detail based on the 'Chicago Convention' in 1944, and enacts provisions for the Rules of UAS or RPAS. Other contries stipulates them such as the Federal Airline Rules (14 CFR), Public Law (112-95) in the United States, the Air Transport Act, Air Transport Order, Air Transport Authorization Order (through revision in "Regulations to operating Rules on unmanned aerial System") based on EASA Regulation (EC) No.216/2008 in the case of unmanned aircaft under 150kg in Germany, and Civil Aviation Act (CAA 1998), Civil Aviation Act 101 (CASR Part 101) in Australia. Commonly, these laws exclude the model aircraft for leisure purpose and require pilots on the ground, not onboard aricraft, capable of controlling RPA. The laws also require that all managements necessary to operate RPA and pilots safely and efficiently under the structure of the unmanned aircraft system within the scope of the regulations. Each country classifies the RPA as an aircraft less than 25kg. Australia and Germany further break down the RPA at a lower weight. ICAO stipulates all general aviation operations, including commercial operation, in accordance with Annex 6 of the Chicago Convention, and it also applies to RPAs operations. However, passenger transportation using RPAs is excluded. If the operational scope of the RPAs includes the airspace of another country, the special permission of the relevant country shall be required 7 days before the flight date with detail flight plan submitted. In accordance with Federal Aviation Regulation 107 in the United States, a small non-leisure RPA may be operated within line-of-sight of a responsible navigator or observer during the day in the speed range up to 161 km/hr (87 knots) and to the height up to 122 m (400 ft) from surface or water. RPA must yield flight path to other aircraft, and is prohibited to load dangerous materials or to operate more than two RPAs at the same time. In Germany, the regulations on UAS except for leisure and sports provide duty to avoidance of airborne collisions and other provisions related to ground safety and individual privacy. Although commercial UAS of 5 kg or less can be freely operated without approval by relaxing the existing regulatory requirements, all the UAS regardless of the weight must be operated below an altitude of 100 meters with continuous monitoring and pilot control. Australia was the first country to regulate unmanned aircraft in 2001, and its regulations have impacts on the unmanned aircraft laws of ICAO, FAA, and EASA. In order to improve the utiliity of unmanned aircraft which is considered to be low risk, the regulation conditions were relaxed through the revision in 2016 by adding the concept "Excluded RPA". In the case of excluded RPA, it can be operated without special permission even for commercial purpose. Furthermore, disscussions on a new standard manual is being conducted for further flexibility of the current regulations.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.462-469
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• 2015

This study carried out a topographic survey at a small-scale open-pit limestone mine in Korea (the Daesung MDI Seoggyo office) using a popular rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Drone, DJI Phantom2 Vision+). 89 sheets of aerial photos could be obtained as a result of performing an automatic flight for 30 minutes under conditions of 100m altitude and 3m/s speed. A total of 34 million cloud points with X, Y, Z-coordinates was extracted from the aerial photos after data processing for correction and matching, then an orthomosaic image and digital surface model with 5m grid spacing could be generated. A comparison of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 5 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by UAV photogrammetry revealed that the root mean squared errors of X, Y, Z-coordinates were around 10cm. Therefore, it is expected that the popular rotary-wing UAV photogrammetry can be effectively utilized in small-scale open-pit mines as a technology that is able to replace or supplement existing topographic surveying equipments.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1944-1953
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• 2015

A novel alkaline protease from Streptomyces sp. M30, SapHM, was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and DEAE-Sepharose chromatography, with a yield of 15.5% and a specific activity of 29,070 U/mg. Tryptic fragments of the purified SapHM were obtained by electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the gene sapHM contained 1,179 bp, corresponding to 392 amino acids with conserved Asp156, His187, and Ser339 residues of alkaline protease. The first 24 amino acid residues were predicted to be a signal peptide, and the molecular mass of the mature peptide was 37.1 kDa based on amino acid sequences and mass spectrometry. Pure SapHM was optimally active at 80℃ in 50 mM glycine-NaOH buffer (pH 9.0), and was broadly stable at 0-50℃ and pH 4.0-9.0. The protease relative activity was increased in the presence of Ni²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Cu²⁺ to 112%, 113%, and 147% of control, respectively. Pure SapHM was also activated by dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, Tween 80, and urea. The activity of the purified enzyme was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, indicating that it is a serine-type protease. The K_m and V_max values were estimated to be 35.7 mg/ml, and 5 × 10⁴ U/mg for casein. Substrate specificity analysis showed that SapH was active on casein, bovine serum albumin, and bovine serum fibrin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.199-209
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• 2018

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are increasingly been recognized as the chemical mediators of mold interactions, shaping their community dynamics, growth, and metabolism. Herein, we selectively examined the time-correlated (0 D-11 D, where D = incubation days) effects of intraspecies VOC-mediated interactions (VMI) on Aspergillus oryzae KCCM 60345 (S1), following co-cultivation with partner strain A. oryzae KACC 44967 (S2), in a specially designed twin plate assembly. The comparative evaluation of $S1_{VMI}$ (S1 subjected to VMI with S2) and its control ($S1_{Con}$) showed a notable disparity in their radial growth ($S1_{VMI}$ < $S1_{Con}$) at 5 D, protease activity ($S1_{VMI}$ > $S1_{Con}$) at 3-5 D, amylase activity ($S1_{VMI}$ < $S1_{Con}$) at 3-5 D, and antioxidant levels ($S1_{VMI}$ > $S1_{Con}$) at 3 D. Furthermore, we observed a distinct clustering pattern for gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry datasets from 5 D extracts of $S1_{VMI}$ and $S1_{Con}$ in principle component analysis (PC1: 30.85%; PC2: 10.31%) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) (PLS1: 30.77; PLS2: 10.15%). Overall, 43 significantly discriminant metabolites were determined for engendering the metabolic variance based on the PLS-DA model (VIP > 0.7, p < 0.05). In general, a marked disparity in the relative abundance of amino acids ($S1_{VMI}$ > $S1_{Con}$) at 5 D, organic acids ($S1_{VMI}$ > $S1_{Con}$) at 5 D, and kojic acid ($S1_{VMI}$ < $S1_{Con}$) at 5-7 D were observed. Examining the headspace VOCs shared between S1 and S2 in the twin plate for 5 D incubated samples, we observed the relatively higher abundance of C-8 VOCs (1-octen-3-ol, (5Z)-octa-1,5-dien-3-ol, 3-octanone, 1-octen-3-ol acetate) having known semiochemical functions. The present study potentially illuminates the effects of VMI on commercially important A. oryzae's growth and biochemical phenotypes with subtle details of altered metabolomes.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.126-137
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• 2016

Purpose: The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the vegetation fraction of soybeans, grown under different cropping conditions using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a red, green, and blue (RGB) camera. Methods: Test plots were prepared based on different cropping treatments, i.e., soybean single-cropping, with and without herbicide application and soybean and barley-cover cropping, with and without herbicide application. The UAV flights were manually controlled using a remote flight controller on the ground, with 2.4 GHz radio frequency communication. For image pre-processing, the acquired images were pre-treated and georeferenced using a fisheye distortion removal function, and ground control points were collected using Google Maps. Tarpaulin panels of different colors were used to calibrate the multi-temporal images by converting the RGB digital number values into the RGB reflectance spectrum, utilizing a linear regression method. Excess Green (ExG) vegetation indices for each of the test plots were compared with the M-statistic method in order to quantitatively evaluate the greenness of soybean fields under different cropping systems. Results: The reflectance calibration methods used in the study showed high coefficients of determination, ranging from 0.8 to 0.9, indicating the feasibility of a linear regression fitting method for monitoring multi-temporal RGB images of soybean fields. As expected, the ExG vegetation indices changed according to different soybean growth stages, showing clear differences among the test plots with different cropping treatments in the early season of < 60 days after sowing (DAS). With the M-statistic method, the test plots under different treatments could be discriminated in the early seasons of <41 DAS, showing a value of M > 1. Conclusion: Therefore, multi-temporal images obtained with an UAV and a RGB camera could be applied for quantifying overall vegetation fractions and crop growth status, and this information could contribute to determine proper treatments for the vegetation fraction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.1006-1015
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• 2016

This paper presents preliminary design and performance analysis of a fast and high precision Tracking Mount for 1m Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR) which is development by Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute(KASI). SLR is considered to be the most accurate technique currently available for the precise orbit determination of Earth satellites. The SLR technique measures the time of flight between pulses emitted from laser transmitter and pulses returned from satellites with laser retro-reflector array. It provides millimeter level precision of range measurements between SLR stations and satellites. A fast and high precision Tracking Mount for SLR which is proposed in this research should be capable of day and nighttime laser tracking about the satellites with laser reflectors from 200 km to 36,000 km altitude(geosynchronous orbit). In order to meet this requirement, we performed mechanical design and structural analysis for Tracking Mount. Also we designed the motion control system and conducted pre-performance analysis to obtain good performance results for a fast and high precision Tracking Mount.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.554-560
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• 2017

Accurate altimetry is required for the reliable flight control of drones or unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), and the radar altimeter is commonly used owing to its accuracy for the ground level. Due to the limitation for size, weight and power consumption, the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar is appropriate for drone because it has lower complexity than that of pulse Doppler (PD) radar. Especially, fast-ramp FMCW radar, which transmits linear FM signal during very short period, is generally utilized, because it is robust for the ego-motion of drone. Therefore, we present the design and implementation results of the radar signal processor (RSP) for fast-ramp FMCW radar system. The proposed RSP was designed with Verilog-HDL and implemented with Altera Cyclone-IV FPGA device. Implementation results show that the proposed RSP includes 27,523 logic elements, 15,798 registers and memory of 138Kbits and can measure the altimeter at the rate of 100Hz with the operating frequency of 50MHz.