• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.675-687
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• 2010

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is the science and technology of monitoring and assessing the condition of aerospace, civil and mechanical infrastructures using a sensing system integrated into the structure. Impedance-based SHM measures impedance of a structure using a PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) patch. This paper presents a low-power wireless autonomous and active SHM node called Autonomous SHM Sensor 2 (ASN-2), which is based on the impedance method. In this study, we incorporated three methods to save power. First, entire data processing is performed on-board, which minimizes radio transmission time. Considering that the radio of a wireless sensor node consumes the highest power among all modules, reduction of the transmission time saves substantial power. Second, a rectangular pulse train is used to excite a PZT patch instead of a sinusoidal wave. This eliminates a digital-to-analog converter and reduces the memory space. Third, ASN-2 senses the phase of the response signal instead of the magnitude. Sensing the phase of the signal eliminates an analog-to-digital converter and Fast Fourier Transform operation, which not only saves power, but also enables us to use a low-end low-power processor. Our SHM sensor node ASN-2 is implemented using a TI MSP430 microcontroller evaluation board. A cluster of ASN-2 nodes forms a wireless network. Each node wakes up at a predetermined interval, such as once in four hours, performs an SHM operation, reports the result to the central node wirelessly, and returns to sleep. The power consumption of our ASN-2 is 0.15 mW during the inactive mode and 18 mW during the active mode. Each SHM operation takes about 13 seconds to consume 236 mJ. When our ASN-2 operates once in every four hours, it is estimated to run for about 2.5 years with two AAA-size batteries ignoring the internal battery leakage.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.766-769
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• 2005

In a ubiquitous environment made up of multiple sensors, most sensors participate in communications with limited battery, and the sensor node isn't able to participate in communications when all the battery is used up. When an existing authentication method is used for the sensor node which has to participate in a long term communication with limited battery, it creates a problem by making the length of network maintenance or sensor node's operation time relatively shorte. Therefore, a network structure where RM (Register Manager) node and AM (Authentication Manager) node are imported to solve the energy consumption problem during a communication process is presented in this thesis. This offers a low power protocol based on safety through a mutual authentication during communications. Through registration and authentication manager nodes, each sensor nodes are ensured of safety and the algorithm of key's generation, encryption/descramble and authentication is processed with faster operation speed. So the amount of electricity used up during the communications between sensor nodes has been evaluated. In case of the amount of electrical usage, an average of $34.783\%$ for the same subnet and 36.855 for communications with two different subnets, are reduced. The proposed method is a protocol which maintains the limited battery for a long time to increase the effectiveness of energy usage in sensor nodes and can also increase the participation rate of communication by sensor nodes.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.405-411
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• 2010

This paper proposes a novel tracking algorithm considering radiation to improve the power of a photovoltaic (PV) tracking system. The sensor method used in a conventional PV plant is unable to track the sun's exact position when the intensity of solar radiation is low. It also has the problem of malfunctions in the tracking system due to rapid changes in the climate. The program method generates power loss due to unnecessary operation of the tracking system because it is not adapted to various weather conditions. This tracking system does not increase the power above that of a power of tracking system fixed at a specific position due to these problems. To reduce the power loss, this paper proposes a novel control algorithm for a tracking system and proves the validity of the proposed control algorithm through a comparison with the conventional PV tracking method.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.842-845
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• 2018

In this paper, we propose low-power operational methods for thermal-energy-harvesting sensor circuits. Here, the amount of harvested current has been measured as low as 8uA. However the DC power consumption of the sensor circuit is known to consume much larger than 8uA. Thus, We propose the hardware-based power gating and software-based active/sleep timing control schemes, respectively, for controlling the power consumption of sensor circuit. In the hardware-based power gating scheme, if the ratio of Toff/Ton is larger than 22, the sensor can consume less than 8uA. For the software-based active/sleep control scheme, if the ratio of Tslp/Tact is larger than 3, we can suppress the current consumption below 8uA. The hardware-based and software-based schemes proposed in this paper would be helpful in various applications of energy-harvesting sensor circuits, where the power consumption is limited by an amount of harvested energy.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.586-594
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• 2014

Maximizing the operating time by reducing the power consumption is important factor to operate sensor network under water networks. For efficient power consumption, dynamic voltage scaling method is available. This method operates low frequency when there is no workload. In case of abundant workload, high frequency operation completes hard work within short time, reducing power consumption. For this reason, complex cryptography should be computed in high frequency. In this paper, we apply dynamic voltage scaling method to cryptography and show performance evaluation. With this result, we can reduce power consumption for cryptography in under water communication.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2012

This paper presents performance evaluation of an Integrated Starter-Alternator (ISA) prototype with an Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) synchronous machine under sensor-less operation. To attain a high starting torque at zero speed and in subsequent extremely low speed range, a hybrid signal injection method is proposed. At higher speed, an improved stator flux observer is used for the stator flux estimation. This observer is able to produce accurately-estimated stator flux linkage for high performance Direct Torque and Flux Control (DTFC) implementation. The sensor-less DTFC IPM synchronous machine drive takes full advantage of the capacity of the power converter and fulfills the control specifications for the ISA. The trajectory control algorithm responds rapidly and in a well behaved manner over a wide range of operating conditions. The experimental results verify the feasibility and advantages of the system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.41 no.6 s.324
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• pp.59-68
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• 2004

Thanks to the development of microelectromechanical systems(MEMS), wireless communication technology and microsensor technology, it was Possible to manufacture a very small and low costdata acquisition node with sensing function, processing function, wireless communication function and battery. Thus sensor networks begin to be prevailed. The sensor network is a spontaneous system which sets up automatically routing paths and transmits asignificant data to the destination. Sensor nodes requires low-power operation because most of them use a battery as operating power. Sensor nodes transmit a sensing data to the destination. Moreover, they play a router. In fact, because the later consumes more energy than the former, the low-power routing is very important. Sensor networks don't have a routing standard unlike general wireless Ad-hoc networks. So This paper proposes a low-power routing method for anting to sensor networks. It is based on AODV and adapts a method to drop probably RREQ depending on remaining power. We examined it through simulations. From simulation results, we could confirm to reduce power consumption about $10-20\%$ and distribute equally power consumption among nodes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.71-78
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• 2021

There are regularly planned overhaul periods in thermal power plants, which involve the maintenance of the boiler of the power plants. However, thermal power plants workers are always exposed to risk during overhaul periods owing to the narrow space and significant dust inside the boiler. Therefore, it is essential to develop a safety monitoring system that is suitable for operating in this type of environment. In this study, we developed not only a worker three-dimensional (3D)-location monitoring system that can monitor and record the entry/exit of workers, their 3D-location, and fall accidents but also a method to secure the working environment and operation efficiency. This system comprises of a worker tag, which was equipped with an inertial measurement unit, a barometric pressure sensor, and a Bluetooth low energy (BLE), and the tags were given to each worker. In addition, the location of workers inside the boiler was measured using a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) method and BLE beacons. The location data of the workers tag were transmitted to the integrated database (DB) server through a gateway, and to the administrator monitoring system. The performance of the system was demonstrated inside an actual thermal power plant boiler, and the accuracy and reliability of the system were verified through a number of repeated tests. These results provide insights on designing a new system for monitoring enclosed spaces.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2001

The detection of open defects in CMOS SRAM has been a time consuming process. This paper proposes a new dynamic power supply current testing method to detect open defects in CMOS SRAM cells. By monitoring a dynamic current pulse during a transition write operation or a read operation, open defects can be detected. In order to measure the dynamic power supply current pulse, a current monitoring circuit with low hardware overhead is developed. Using the sensor, the new testing method does not require any additional test sequence. The results show that the new test method is very efficient compared with other testing methods. Therefore, the new testing method is very attractive.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2173-2181
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• 2016

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) have higher torque and superior output power per volume than other types of AC motors. They are commonly used for applications that require a large output power and a wide range of speed. For precise control of PMSMs, knowing the accurate position of the rotor is essential, and normally position sensors such as a resolver or an encoder are employed. On the other hand, the position sensors make the driving system expensive and unstable if the attached sensor malfunctions. Therefore, sensorless algorithms are widely researched nowadays, to reduce the cost and cope with sensor failure. This paper proposes a sensorless algorithm that can be applied to a wide range of speed. The proposed method features a robust operation at low-speed as well as high-speed ranges by employing a gain adjustment scheme and intermittent voltage pulse injection method. In the proposed scheme the position estimation gain is tuned by a closed loop manner to have stable operation in tough driving environment. The proposed algorithm is fully verified by various experiments done with a 1 kW outer rotor-type PMSM.