• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.227-233
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• 2016

This paper presents an underwater structure 3D reconstruction method using a 2D multibeam imaging sonar. Compared with other underwater environmental recognition sensors, the 2D multibeam imaging sonar offers high resolution images in water with a high turbidity level by showing the reflection intensity data in real-time. With such advantages, almost all underwater applications, including ROVs, have applied this 2D multibeam imaging sonar. However, the elevation data are missing in sonar images, which causes difficulties with correctly understanding the underwater topography. To solve this problem, this paper concentrates on the physical relationship between the sonar image and the scene topography to find the elevation information. First, the modeling of the sonar reflection intensity data is studied using the distances and angles of the sonar beams and underwater objects. Second, the elevation data are determined based on parameters like the reflection intensity and shadow length. Then, the elevation information is applied to the 3D underwater reconstruction. This paper evaluates the presented real-time 3D reconstruction method using real underwater environments. Experimental results are shown to appraise the performance of the method. Additionally, with the utilization of ROVs, the contour and texture image mapping results from the obtained 3D reconstruction results are presented as applications.

• 대한전기학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한전기학회 2000년도 하계학술대회 논문집 C
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• pp.2180-2182
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• 2000

Laser emission, a part of electromagnetic wave, has short propagation length in water, and the underwater applications of laser are limited. The acquisition of underwater imaging is possible only by using a blue-green laser since the blue-green range has relatively small absorption coefficient in water. We introduce the conditions of the laser required for underwater imaging and the attenuation characteristics of a blue-green laser used in water.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.200-206
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• 2016

Images can be obtained by collecting rays from objects. The characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagation depend on the medium. In particular, in an underwater imaging system, the interface between air and water must be considered. Further, reflection and transmission coefficients can be found by using electromagnetic theory. Because of the fact that the values of these coefficients differ according to the media, the recorded light intensities will change. A color image sensor has three different color channels. Therefore, the reflection and transmission coefficients have to be calculated individually. Thereafter, by using these coefficients, we can compensate for the color information of underwater objects. In this paper, we present a method to compensate for the color information of underwater objects by using electromagnetic wave propagation theory. To prove our method, we conducted optical experiments and evaluated the quality of the compensated image by a metric known as mean square error.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.195-224
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• 2023

This paper proposes a method for the acoustic imaging wherein the traditional requirement of the relative movement between the transmitter and target is overcome. This is facilitated through the beamforming acoustic array in the transmitter, in which the target is illuminated by the array at various azimuth and elevation angles without the physical movement of the acoustic array. The concept of beam steering of the acoustic array facilitates the formation of the beam at desired angular positions of azimuth and elevation angles. This paper substantiates that the combination of illumination of the target from different azimuth and elevation angles with respect to the transmitter (through the beam steering of beam forming acoustic array) and the beam steering at multiple frequencies (through SF) results in enhanced reconstruction of images of the target in the underwater scenario. This paper also demonstrates the possibility of reconstruction of the image of a target in underwater without invoking the traditional algorithms of Digital Image Processing (DIP). This paper comprehensively and succinctly presents all the empirical formulae required for modelling the acoustic medium and the target to facilitate the reader with a comprehensive summary document incorporating the various parameters of multi-disciplinary nature.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.141-150
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• 2017

Images obtained from underwater are usually degraded due to the environmental conditions. Some of the typical degradation factors include turbidity and color degradation. These degradations can be attributed to the absorptive and scattering properties of underwater degradation in terms of optical parameters, such as modulation transfer function (MTF), optical transfer function (OTF),point spread function (PSF), and color constancy. In this paper, we use the CODE V optical simulation software to mimic underwater conditions and model the imaging platform, thereby studying various parameters, such as PSF and MTF, and we use the PSF to remove the underwater turbidity. Experimental results show increased performance with the algorithm, compared to other existing methods.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.214-220
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• 2016

Imaging sonars such as side-scanning sonar or forward-looking sonar are becoming fundamental sensors in the underwater robotics field. However, using sonar images for underwater perception presents many challenges. Sonar images are usually low resolution with inherent speckled noise. To overcome the limited sensor information for underwater perception, we investigated preprocessing methods for sonar images and feature detection methods for a nonlinear scale space. In this paper, we focus on a comparative analysis of (1) preprocessing for sonar images and (2) the feature detection performance in relation to the scale space composition.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제9권4호
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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.

• 로봇학회논문지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.51-59
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• 2016

In this paper we present (1) analysis of imaging sonar measurement for two-view relative pose estimation of an autonomous vehicle and (2) bundle adjustment and 3D reconstruction method using imaging sonar. Sonar has been a popular sensor for underwater application due to its robustness to water turbidity and visibility in water medium. While vision based motion estimation has been applied to many ground vehicles for motion estimation and 3D reconstruction, imaging sonar addresses challenges in relative sensor frame motion. We focus on the fact that the sonar measurement inherently poses ambiguity in its measurement. This paper illustrates the source of the ambiguity in sonar measurements and summarizes assumptions for sonar based robot navigation. For validation, we synthetically generated underwater seafloor with varying complexity to analyze the error in the motion estimation.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.840-866
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• 2014

Visibility in underwater images is usually poor because of the attenuation of light in the water that causes low contrast and color variation. In this paper, a new approach for underwater image quality improvement is presented. The proposed method aims to improve underwater image contrast, increase image details, and reduce noise by applying a new method of using contrast stretching to produce two different images with different contrasts. The proposed method integrates the modification of the image histogram in two main color models, RGB and HSV. The histograms of the color channel in the RGB color model are modified and remapped to follow the Rayleigh distribution within certain ranges. The image is then converted to the HSV color model, and the S and V components are modified within a certain limit. Qualitative and quantitative analyses indicate that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of contrast, details, and noise reduction. The image color also shows much improvement.

• 전자공학회논문지
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• 제51권2호
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• pp.182-189
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• 2014

본 논문은 탁도의 영향으로 사용이 제한적인 수중 광학 카메라의 대안으로 수중 영상 소나(imaging sonar)를 사용하여 수중 물체를 인식하여 추종하는 구조를 제안한다. Part 1에서, 영상 소나의 현실적인 성능을 고려한 2차원 인공 표식의 설계 방법과 인식 방법을 제안한다. 특히 영상 소나와 초음파의 특성을 분석하여 피인식성을 극대화 할 수 있는 재료를 선택하였으며, 물체의 모델링이 쉬운 무지향성이며 단순한 외형을 채택하고, 표식으로 사용이 가능한 영역 기반 특징 요소를 포함한 내부 형태를 제안하였다. 또한 제안한 인공 표식을 실시간으로 인식할 수 있는 방법을 제안하였다. 이 방법은 외곽선 추출, 허프-원-검출기에 의한 유사도 및 위치 추정, 형상 행렬의 비교에 의한 표식의 분류하는 알고리즘을 포함하고 있다. 제안한 인공 표식과 인식 알고리즘의 유용함을 DIDSON (영상 소나)를 사용한 수조 실험으로 검증하였다.