In this paper, an optimal FIR (Finite-Impulse-Response) filter is proposed for discrete time-varying state-space models. The proposed filter estimates the current state using measured output samples on the recent time horizon so that the variance of the estimation error is minimized. It is designed to be linear, unbiased, with an FIR structure, and is independent of any state information. Due to its FIR structure, the proposed filter is believed to be robust for modeling uncertainty or numerical errors than other IIR filters, such as the Kalman filter. For a general system with system and measurement noise, the proposed filter is derived without any artificial assumptions such as the nonsingular assumption of the system matrix A and any infinite covariance of the initial state. A numerical example show that the proposed FIR filter has better performance than the Kalman filter based on the IIR (Infinite- Impulse-Response) structure when modeling uncertainties exist.

A nonlinear version of disturbance observer is presented. The system under consideration is an uncertain single input single output nonlinear system and the nominal plant is also a nonlinear system. Compared to the previous implementation given in [8], the proposed scheme does not require an auxiliary variable anymore, thus it has a simpler and more intuitive structure. A robust stability condition for the overall closed-loop system is also provided.

A touch panel system has been one of the most widely used input devices. In this study, a touch panel embedded system using accelerometers is considered in order to make commercial white-boards or plates into touch panels. Three accelerometers are located at different positions on such a white board, so that touch points on the board can be identified using the sensors. For the identification of touch points, a TDOA (Time Difference of Arrivals) technique is applied in the algorithm which was implemented in a DSP board (TI 6713 DSK), which can provide a precise touch location by using the cross-correlation function of measured signals from the three accelerometers. Experiment results show that the touch panel system with accelerometers could provide the exact touch location. Thus a novel approach using such accelerometers could be applied to a new touch panel system.

In this paper, the degradation evaluation method of VLC (Visible Light Communication) wireless module after high dose rate gamma-ray irradiation using the thermal infrared camera is proposed. First, the heating characteristics of the active devices embedded in the VLC wireless module during the condition of normal operation is monitored by thermal infrared camera. By the image processing technique, the trends of the intensity of the heat emitted by the active devices are calculated and stored. The feature of the blob area including the area of the active devices in the thermal infrared image is extracted and stored. The feature used in this paper is the mean value of the gray levels in the blob area. The same VLC module has been gamma irradiated at the dose rate of about 4.0 kGy/h during 72 hours up to a total dose of 288 kGy. And then, the heating characteristics of the active devices embedded in the VLC wireless module after high dose gamma ray irradiation is observed by thermal infrared camera. The high dose gamma-ray induced degradation of the active devices embedded in the VLC module was evaluated by comparing the mean value of the blob area to the one of the same blob area of the VLC module before the gamma ray irradiation.

GA (Genetic Algorithms) are efficient for searching for global optima but may have some problems such as premature convergence, convergence to local extremum and divergence. These phenomena are related to the evolutionary operators. As population diversity converges to low value, the search ability of a GA decreases and premature convergence or converging to local extremum may occur but population diversity converges to high value, then genetic algorithm may diverge. To guarantee that genetic algorithms converge to the global optima, the genetic operators should be chosen properly. In this paper, we analyze the effects of the selection operator, crossover operator, and mutation operator on convergence properties, and propose the sweeping method of mutation probability and elitist propagation rate to maintain the diversity of the GA's population for getting out of the premature convergence. Results of simulation studies verify the feasibility of using these sweeping operators to avoid premature convergence and convergence to local extrema.

This paper proposes a novel approach to building an occupancy grid map using sonar data. It is very important for a mobile robot to recognize and construct its surrounding environments for navigation. However, the grid map constructed by ultrasonic sensors cannot represent a realistic shape of given environments due to incorrect sonar measurements caused by specular reflection. To overcome this problem, we propose an advanced sonar sensor model which consists of distance and shape factors used to determine the reliability of sensor data. Through this sensor model, a robot can build a high-quality grid map. The proposed method was verified by various experiments and showed that the robot could build an accurate map with sonar data in various indoor environments.

An effective method of obstacle avoidance for omni-directional mobile robots is proposed to avoid moving obstacles in dynamic environments. Our method uses the concept of circle lists which represent the trajectories of robot and obstacles. This method predicts not only collision position but also collision time, and hence it enables the robot avoiding the most urgent collision first. In order to avoid obstacles, our method uses artificial repulsive force and contraction force. Simulation results show that the robot could avoid obstacles effectively.

The scan matching is widely used in localization and mapping of mobile robots. This paper presents a probabilistic scan matching method. To improve the performance of the scan matching, a direction of data point is incorporated into the scan matching. The direction of data point is calculated using the line fitted by the neighborhood data. Owing to the incorporation, the performance of the matching was improved. The number of iterations in the scan matching decreased, and the tolerance against a high rotation between scans increased. Based on real data of a laser range finder, experiments verified the performance of the proposed direction augmented probabilistic scan matching algorithm.

The localization of mobile robot in environment is a major concern in mobile robot navigation. So, many kinds of localization techniques have been researched for several years. Among them, the positioning system using ultrasound has received attention. Most of these ultrasonic positioning systems to synchronize the transmitters and receivers are used for RF (Radio Frequencies). However, due to the use of RF, the interference problems can not be avoided and the performance of radio frequencies directly affects the positioning performance. So we proposed the ultrasonic positioning system without synchronizing RF. The proposed system is based on existing USAT (Ultrasonic Satellite System) adopted infrastructure transmitting type, and consists of transmitter and receiver synchronizing modules instead of the radio frequency transmitters and receiver. The ultrasonic transmitters and receivers are synchronized individually by the transmitter and receiver synchronizing modules. In order to calculate the bias between the transmitter and receiver synchronizing modules, new positioning algorithm similar to GPS was proposed. The positioning performance of the improved USAT without synchronizing RF and the validity of the proposed positioning algorithm are verified and evaluated by experiments.

In daily life, another major role of human hand is a communicative function using hand gestures besides grasp function. Therefore, if amputees can express their intention by the prosthetic hand, they can much actively participate in social activities. Thus, this paper propose myoelectric multi-function prosthetic hand which can express 6 useful hand gestures such as Rock, Scissors, Paper, Indexing, Ok and Thumb-up. It was designed as under-actuated structure to minimize volume and weight of the prosthetic hand. Moreover, in order to effectively control various hand gestures by only two EMG sensors, we propose a control strategy that the signal type are expanded as "Strong" and "Light", and hand gestures are hierarchically classified for the intuitive control. Finally, we prove the validity of the developed prosthetic hand with the experiment.

Automated parking assist systems are being commercialized and rapidly spread in the market. In order to improve odometry accuracy, we proposed a practical odometry calibration scheme of Car-Like Mobile Robot (CLMR). However, there were some open problems in our prior work. For example, it was not clear whether the kinematic parameters always converged or not using the proposed calibration scheme. In addition, test driving had to be carried out "twice" without detailed explanation. This research aims to provide answers for the addressed questions though the convergence property analysis of the calibration scheme. In this paper, we evaluate on the effect of the kinematic parameter error on the odometry error at the final pose by numerical computation. The evaluation will show that the wheel diameter and tread of the CLMR can be calibrated by iterative test drives. In addition, the region of convergence in the parametric space will be discussed. Presented experimental results clearly showed that the proposed calibration scheme would be useful in practical applications.

For way-point tracking of an autonomous underwater vehicle, a state feedback controller was designed by using pole placement scheme in discrete time domain. In the controller, 4 state variables were used for regulating the depth of the vehicle in z direction, and 3 state variables, for steering the vehicle in xy plane. Assuming constant speed of AUV, we simplified the design of the way-point tracking system. The proposed controller was simulated by MATLAB/Simulink using 6 degree-of-freedom nonlinear model and its performance of way point tracking was shown to be fulfilled within 1 m, nevertheless the proposed controller is quite simple and easy to implement compared to sliding mode controller.

This paper proposes a control-based approach for duty cycle adaptation in wireless sensor networks. The proposed method, QCon, controls duty cycle through queue management in order to achieve high performance under variable traffic rates. To minimize energy consumption while meeting delay requirement, we design a feedback controller, which adapts the sleeping time according to dynamically changing traffic by constraining the queue length at a predetermined value. Based on control theory, we analyze the adaptive behavior of QCon and derive conditions for system stability. Results from asymptotic analysis and simulations indicate that QCon outperforms existing scheduling protocol by achieving more energy savings while satisfying delay requirement.