Intelligent Space defines an environment where many intelligent devices, such as computers and sensors, are distributed. As a result of the cooperation between smart devices, intelligence emerges from the environment. In such scheme, a crucial task is to obtain the global location of every device in order to of for the useful services. Some tracking systems often prepare the models of the objects in advance. It is difficult to adopt this model-based solution as the tracking system when many kinds of objects exist. In this paper the location is achieved with no prior model, using color properties as information source. Feature vectors of multiple objects using color histogram and tracking method are described. The proposed method is applied to the intelligent environment and its performance is verified by the experiments.

This is concerned with the development and design of automatic maneuvering system using Differential Global Positioning System(DGPS). To achievement of autonomous maneuvering controller for giant ship, first, we investigated automatic maneuvering controller using DGPS in motor car. The sensors are configured with DGPS and digital compass. We calculated velocity and steering angle of motor car based on sensor signal. To design the controller, we derived the bicycle model and developed critically damped controller. The critically damped controller can be tracing previously appointed position in the fastest time. We are used a laptop computer to realize and the control algorithm is programmed by visual basic software. The obtained experimental results from developed system show unmanned motor car is good tracing planed positions. Hence, the system is looking forward to use the autonomous maneuvering control fur giant ship.

A CCD camera is used to determine the position of the point sources that influence the measurement accuracy in the absolute interferometer. The principle of determination method is based on the GPS in which the position is determined by more than 3 distance information from the known positions. Two-dimensional array of photo-detectors in the CCD camera is used as known positions. Performing optimization of the cost function constructed with phase values measured at each pixel on the CCD camera, the position coordinates of each source is precisely determined.

This paper presents the robust mobile robot localization method exploiting redundant motion information acquired from three optical mice that are installed at the bottom of a mobile robot in a regular triangular form. First, we briefly introduce a low-cost optical motion sensor, HDNS-2000, and a commercial device driver development tools, WinDriver, to be used in this research. Second, we explain the basic principle of the mobile robot localization using the motion information from three optical mice, and propose the least squares based localization algorithm which is robust to the noisy measurement and partial malfunctioning of optical mice. Third, we describe the development of the experimental optical odometer using three PC optical mice and the user-friendly graphic monitoring program. Fourth, simulations and experiments are performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed localization method and the operation of the developed optical odometer. Finally, along with the conclusion, we suggest some future work including the installation parameter calibration, the optical mouse remodelling, and the high-performance motion sensor adoption.

The localization is one of the most important issues for mobile robot. This paper describes a novel localization system for the development of a location sensing network. The system comprises wirelessly controlled infrared landmarks and an image sensor which detects the pixel positions of infrared sources. The proposed localization system can operate irrespective of the illumination condition in the indoor environment. We describe the operating principles of the developed localization system and report the performance for mobile robot localization and navigation. The advantage of the developed system lies in its robustness and low cost to obtain location information as well as simplicity of deployment to build a robot location sensing network. Experimental results show that the developed system outperforms the state-of-the-art localization methods.

This study presents an ultrasonic location awareness system for the ubiquitous computing with absolute position. The flight time of ultrasonic waves is determined by a period detecting technique which is able to extend the sensing range compared with traditional methods. For location awareness, ultrasonic waves are sent successively from each ultrasonic transmitter and synchronized by radio frequency (RF) signal, where the transmitting part is fixed and the receiving part is movable. To expand the recognizing range, cell matching technique and coded ultrasonic technique are introduced. The experimentation for various distances is accomplished to verify the used period detecting technique of U-SAT system. The positioning accuracy by using cell matching is also verified by finding the locations of settled points and the usability of coded ultrasonic technique is verified. As a result, the possibility of ultrasonic location awareness system for the ubiquitous computing can be discussed as a pseudo-satellite system with low cost, a high update rate, and relatively high precision, in the places where CPS is not available.

Nowadays, CPS is used widely, especially in cases which need more precise position information, such as car navigation systems and even in the mobile robot for position measuring in the outdoor environment. RTK (Real-Time Kinematics) and DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) have more precise accuracy than the general-purposed GPS. However can't easily use them because of high prices and large size of equipments. In order fur the mobile robot to obtain precise position information it is important that CPS receiver has portability and low price. In this study, we introduce a new GPS data acquisition system that offers the precise position data using the DGPS mechanism and satisfying low cost and portability. In addition to this, we propose an improved data compensation algorithm that offers more accurate position information to the outdoor mobile robot by compensating the error rate of CPS data measured from the three points with geometrical rotation and distance formula. Proposed method is verified by comparing with the precise real position data obtained by RTK. Proposed method has more than 70% performance enhancement.

The coverage of the NDGPS is nationwide currently and by 2007 more than 2 NDGPS signal will be available in most of Korean peninsula both coastal area and inland. The role of NDGPS beacon is transmitting pseudorange corrections however if range or pseudorange can be measured from NDGPS beacon signal, it might be possible to construct an independent regional navigation system: The range from NDGPS beacon signal can be used as additional measurements to remove GPS shadow area and to improve accuracy and reliability of GPS. Furthermore, by adding Loran-C, a regional radio navigation system without GPS can be possible. In this paper, a feasibility study on the regional positioning system using NDGPS and LORAN-C are given. The results show that the NDGPS and LORAN-C can be used as a ground based regional navigation system if requirements such as synchronization of NDGPS network, dual coverage of NDGPS, navigation algorithm for both NDGPS and LORAN-C measurements and an efficient ASF compensation method are met.

Ionospheric storms, caused by the interaction between Solar and geomagnetic activities, may degrade the differential GNSS(Global Navigation Satellite Systems) performance significantly, and the importance of the ionospheric storm research is growing for the GBAS(Ground-Based Augmentation System) and SBAS(Satellite-Based Augmentation System) development. In order to support Korean GNSS augmentation system development, a software tool for analyzing the regional ionosphere is being developed and its preliminary results are discussed. After brief description of the ionosphere and ionospheric storm, the research topics on the GBAS applications are discussed. The need for ionospheric spatial gradient analysis is described and some results on the ionospheric spatial gradient during recent storm periods are discussed.

Smart homes are expected to offer various intelligent services by recognizing the residents' life pattern, health, and feeling. One of the key issues for realizing the smart home is how to detect the locations of residents. Currently, the research effort is focused on two approaches: terminal-based and non-terminal-based method. The terminal-based method employs a type of device that should be carried by the resident while the non-terminal-based method has no such device. This paper presents a novel non-terminal-based approach using an array of pyroelectric infrared sensors (PIRs) that can detect residents. The feasibility of the system is evaluated experimentally on a test bed.

A strain gauge weight measuring instrumentation system was designed with RF sensor network facilities. In the sensor module system data conversion and a series of signal processing were totally equipped. 16 strain gauges are incoming sensors and each output of the strain gauge was amplified and filtered for proper analog signal processing. Several measuring instrumentation OP amps and general purposed OP amps were used. 12 bits A/D converters converted analog signals to digital bits and a PIC microprocessor controlled the 16 channels of strain gauges. RF RS232 modules were used for wireless communication between the PIC microprocessor and an Ethernet host far a remote sensor monitoring system development.

Medical robotics and computer aided surgery in general, and robotic telesurgery in particular, are promising applications of robotics. In this paper, we shows a novel single-master (PHANTOM based single-master multi-slave telerobotic system) multi-slave system using two parallel mechanism micromanipulators as a slave device. After a general introduction to the systems structure and configuration of telerobotic system, a manipulation control strategy to build the system that human and both manipulators perform the cooperative manipulation, is introduced, followed by its kinematic analysis, mapping method, and experimental results.

This paper proposes intelligent control of a virtual walking machine that can generate infinite floor for various surfaces and can provide proprioceptive feedback of walking to a user. This machine allows users to participate in a life-like walking experience in virtual environments with various terrains. The controller of the machine is implemented hierarchically, at low-level for robust actuator control, at mid-level fur platform control to compensate the external forces by foot contact, and at high-level control for generating walking trajectory. The high level controller is suggested to generate continuous walking on an infinite floor for various terrains. For the high level control, each independent platform follows a man foot during the swing phase, while the other platform moves back during single stance phase. During double limb support, two platforms manipulate neutral positions to compensate the offset errors generated by velocity changes. This control can, therefore, satisfy natural walking conditions in any direction. Transition phase between the swing and the stance phases is detected by using simple switch sensor system, while human foot motions are sensed by careful calibration with a magnetic motion tracker attached to the shoe. Experimental results of walking simulations at level ground, slope, and stairs, show that with the proposed machine, a general person can walk naturally on various terrains with safety and without any considerable disturbances. This interface can be applied to various areas such as VR navigations, rehabilitation, and gait analysis.

EMG pattern recognition is essential for the control of a multifunction myoelectric hand. The main goal of this study is to develop an efficient feature projection method for EMC pattern recognition. To this end, we propose a linear supervised feature projection that utilizes linear discriminant analysis (LDA). We first perform wavelet packet transform (WPT) to extract the feature vector from four channel EMC signals. For dimensionality reduction and clustering of the WPT features, the LDA incorporates class information into the learning procedure, and finds a linear matrix to maximize the class separability for the projected features. Finally, the multilayer perceptron classifies the LDA-reduced features into nine hand motions. To evaluate the performance of LDA for the WPT features, we compare LDA with three other feature projection methods. From a visualization and quantitative comparison, we show that LDA has better performance for the class separability, and the LDA-projected features improve the classification accuracy with a short processing time. We implemented a real-time pattern recognition system for a multifunction myoelectric hand. In experiment, we show that the proposed method achieves 97.2% recognition accuracy, and that all processes, including the generation of control commands for myoelectric hand, are completed within 97 msec. These results confirm that our method is applicable to real-time EMG pattern recognition far myoelectric hand control.

Though a fully thermally coupled distillation column consumes less energy than an original column, it is not widely implemented in practice due to its operational difficulty. A new fully thermally coupled distillation column is proposed for the operability improvement, and its performance is investigated. The main improvement is the separation of a main column to give an upper and lower columns and the installation of an intermediate heat exchanger between them to regulate the fluctuation of product compositions. A proper manipulation of column pressure in the separated main columns made easy vapor flow without a compressor. The operability improvement is examined in a hexane process from the dynamic simulation using a commercial design software HYSYS. The simulation results indicate that the coupling among inputs and outputs is loosened to make easy manipulation of product compositions in the proposed distillation system.