• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.605-610
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• 2010

The devices based on electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) structure are proposed for the detection of external electric charges. A large size charge contact window (CCW) extended from the floating gate is employed to immobilize external charges, and a control gate with stacked metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor is adapted for a standard single polysilicon CMOS process. When positive voltage is applied to the capacitor of CCW of an n-channel EEPROM, the drain current increases due to the negative shift of its threshold voltage. Also when a pre-charged external capacitor is directly connected to the floating gate metal of CCW, the positive charges of the external capacitor make the drain current increase for n-channel, whereas the negative charges cause it to decrease. For an p-channel, however, the opposite behaviors are observed by the external voltage and charges. With the attachment of external charges to the CCW of EEPROM inverter, the characteristic inverter voltage behavior shifts from the reference curve dependent on external charge polarity. Therefore, we have demonstrated that the EEPROM inverter is capable of detecting external immobilized charges on the floating gate. and these devices are applicable to sensing the pH's or biomolecular reactions.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2016

Microcontrollers (MCUs) for endpoint smart sensor devices of internet-of-thing (IoT) are being implemented as system-on-chip (SoC) with on-chip instruction flash memory, in which user firmware is embedded. MCUs directly fetch binary code-based instructions through bit-line sense amplifier (S/A) integrated with on-chip flash memory. The S/A compares bit cell current with reference current to identify which data are programmed. The S/A in reading '0' (erased) cell data consumes a large sink current, which is greater than off-current for '1' (programmed) cell data. The main motivation of our approach is to reduce the number of accesses of erased cells by binary code level transformation. This paper proposes a built-in write/read path architecture using binary code inversion method based on hot-spot region detection of instruction code access to reduce sensing current in S/A. From the profiling result of instruction access patterns, hot-spot region of an original compiled binary code is conditionally inverted with the proposed bit-inversion techniques. The de-inversion hardware only consumes small logic current instead of analog sink current in S/A and it is integrated with the conventional S/A to restore original binary instructions. The proposed techniques are applied to the fully-custom designed MCU with ARM Cortex-M0$^{TM}$ using 0.18um Magnachip Flash-embedded CMOS process and the benefits in terms of power consumption reduction are evaluated for Dhrystone$^{TM}$ benchmark. The profiling environment of instruction code executions is implemented by extending commercial ARM KEIL$^{TM}$ MDK (MCU Development Kit) with our custom-designed access analyzer.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.296-304
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• 2015

Purpose: The balance between miscanthus production and its cost effectiveness depends greatly on its moisture content during post processing. The objective of this research was to measure the moisture content using a non-destructive and non-contact methodology for in situ applications. Methods: The moisture content of comminuted miscanthus was controlled using a closed chamber, a humidifier, a precision weigher, and a real-time monitoring software developed in this research. A CMOS sensor equipped with $50{\times}$ magnifier lens was used to capture magnified images of the conditioned materials with moisture content level from 5 to 30%. The hypothesis is that when light is incident on the comminuted particles in an inclined manner, higher moisture content results in light being reflected with a higher intensity. Results: A linear regression analysis for an initiative hypothesis based on general histogram analysis yielded insufficient correlations with low significance level (<0.31) for the determination coefficient. A significant relationship (94% confidence level) was determined at level 108 in a reverse accumulative histogram proposed based on a revised hypothesis. A linear regression model with the value at level 108 in the reverse accumulative histogram for a magnified image as the independent variable and the moisture content of comminuted miscanthus as the dependent variable was proposed as the estimation model. The calibrated linear regression model with a slope of 92.054 and an offset of 32.752 yielded 0.94 for the determination coefficient (RMSE = 0.2%). The validation test showed a significant relationship at the 74% confidence level with RMSE 6.4% (n = 36). Conclusions: To compensate the inconsistent significance between calibration and validation, an estimation model robust against various systematic interferences is necessary. The economic efficiency of miscanthus, which is a promising energy resource, can be improved by the real-time measurement of its crucial material properties.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.205-215
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• 2011

Films are sensitive to ultraviolet rays and in contrast, digital camera sensors are extremely sensitive to infrared rays due to the differences in spectral characteristics. As a result, all digital cameras that use CCD or CMOS are equipped with IR Cut-Off Filter on the overall sensor. Complete block out of infrared rays is ideal, but the actual experiment results showed that infrared rays were not being blocked out completely. Infrared permeability was also different for each camera. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effect of the minute quantities of infrared rays, which get transmitted due to mechanical properties of IR Cut-Off Filters that are installed on digital cameras, on digital picture images. The results obtained by carrying out a comparative analysis of a UV Filter (infrared transmitting state) and a UV-IR Filter (infrared blocked out state) are as follows. It was confirmed that the minute quantities of infrared rays do affect dynamic range and resolution to some extent, despite the little or no difference in noise and color reproduction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.503-506
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• 2015

In accordance with IoT(Internet of Things) commercialization, the need to design SoC-based hardware platform with wireless communication is increasing. This paper therefor proposes an SoC platform architecture with Smart Frame System inter-communicating between devices. Wireless communication functions and high-performance real-time image processing hardware structure was applied to existing digital photo frame. We developed a smart phone application to control the smart frame through Bluetooth communication. The SoC platform hardware consists of CIS controller, Memory controller, ISP(Image Signal Processing) module for image scaling, Bluetooth Interface for inter-communicating between devices, VGA/TFT-LCD controller for displaying video. The Smart Frame System to support the IoT services was implemented and verified using HBE-SoC-IPD test board equipped with Virtex4 XC4VLX80 FPGA. The operating frequency is 54MHz.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-69
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• 2017

In recent year, energy harvesting technologies from the ambient environments such as light, motion, wireless waves, and temperature again a lot of attraction form research community [1-5] due to its efficient solution in order to substitute for conventional power delivery methods, especially in wearable together with on-body applications. The drawbacks of battery-powered characteristic used in commodity applications lead to self-powered, long-lifetime circuit design. Thermoelectric generator, a solid-state sensor, is useful compared to the harvesting devices in order to enable self-sustained low-power applications. TEG based on the Seebeck effect is utilized to transfer thermal energy which is available with a temperature gradient into useful electrical energy. Depending on the temperature difference between two sides, amount of output power will be proportionally delivered. In this work, we illustrated a low-input voltage energy harvesting circuit applied discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) method for getting an adequate amount of energy from thermoelectric generator (TEG) for a specific wearable application. With a small temperature gradient harvested from human skin, the input voltage from the transducer is as low as 60mV, the proposed circuit, fabricated in a $0.6{\mu}m$ CMOS process, is capable of generating a regulated output voltage of 4.2V with an output power reaching to $40{\mu}W$. The proposed circuit is useful for powering energy to battery-less systems, such as wearable application devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.763-764
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• 2013

A three-dimensional image capturing device and its signal processing algorithm and apparatus are presented. Three dimensional information is one of emerging differentiators that provides consumers with more realistic and immersive experiences in user interface, game, 3D-virtual reality, and 3D display. It has the depth information of a scene together with conventional color image so that full-information of real life that human eyes experience can be captured, recorded and reproduced. 20 Mega-Hertz-switching high speed image shutter device for 3D image capturing and its application to system prototype are presented[1,2]. For 3D image capturing, the system utilizes Time-of-Flight (TOF) principle by means of 20MHz high-speed micro-optical image modulator, so called 'optical resonator'. The high speed image modulation is obtained using the electro-optic operation of the multi-layer stacked structure having diffractive mirrors and optical resonance cavity which maximizes the magnitude of optical modulation[3,4]. The optical resonator is specially designed and fabricated realizing low resistance-capacitance cell structures having small RC-time constant. The optical shutter is positioned in front of a standard high resolution CMOS image sensor and modulates the IR image reflected from the object to capture a depth image (Figure 1). Suggested novel optical resonator enables capturing of a full HD depth image with depth accuracy of mm-scale, which is the largest depth image resolution among the-state-of-the-arts, which have been limited up to VGA. The 3D camera prototype realizes color/depth concurrent sensing optical architecture to capture 14Mp color and full HD depth images, simultaneously (Figure 2,3). The resulting high definition color/depth image and its capturing device have crucial impact on 3D business eco-system in IT industry especially as 3D image sensing means in the fields of 3D camera, gesture recognition, user interface, and 3D display. This paper presents MEMS-based optical resonator design, fabrication, 3D camera system prototype and signal processing algorithms.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_3
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• pp.1985-1999
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to apply urban heat island reduction techniques(green roof, cool roof, and cool pavements using heat insulation paint or blocks) recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to our study area and determine their actual effects through a comparative analysis between land cover objects. To this end, the area of Mugye-ri, Jangyu-myeon, Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do was selected as a study area, and measurements were taken using a drone DJI Matrice 300 RTK, which was equipped with a thermal infrared sensor FLIR Vue Pro R and a visible spectrum sensor H20T 1/2.3" CMOS, 12 MP. A total of nine heat maps, land cover objects (711) as a control group, and heat island reduction technique-applied land covering objects (180) were extracted every 1 hour and 30 minutes from 7:15 am to 7:15 pm on July 27. After calculating the effect values for each of the 180 objects extracted, the effects of each technique were integrated. Through the analysis based on daytime hours, the effect of reducing heat islands was found to be 4.71℃ for cool roof; 3.40℃ for green roof; and 0.43℃ and -0.85℃ for cool pavements using heat insulation paint and blocks, respectively. Comparing the effect by time period, it was found that the heat island reduction effect of the techniques was highest at 13:00, which is near the culmination hour, on the imaging date. Between 13:00 and 14:30, the efficiency of temperature reduction changed, with -8.19℃ for cool roof, -5.56℃ for green roof, and -1.78℃ and -1.57℃ for cool pavements using heat insulation paint and blocks, respectively. This study was a case study that verified the effects of urban heat island reduction techniques through the use of high-resolution images taken with drones. In the future, it is considered that it will be possible to present case studies that directly utilize micro-satellites with high-precision spatial resolution.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2020

An optical televiewer is a geophysical logging device that produces continuous high-resolution full-azimuth images of a borehole wall using a light-emitting-diode and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor to provide valuable information on subsurface discontinuities. Recently, borehole imaging logging has been applied in many fields, including ground subsidence monitoring, rock mass integrity evaluation, stress-induced fracture detection, and glacial annual-layer measurements in polar regions. Widely used commercial borehole imaging logging systems typically have limitations depending on equipment specifications, meaning that it is necessary to clearly verify the scope of applications while maintaining appropriate quality control for various borehole conditions. However, it is difficult to directly check the accuracy, implementation, and reliability for outcomes, as images derived from an optical televiewer constitute in situ data. In this study, we designed and constructed a modular fractured borehole model having similar conditions to a borehole environment to report unprecedented results regarding reliable data acquisition and processing. We investigate sonde magnetometer accuracy, color realization, and fracture resolution, and suggest data processing methods to obtain accurate aperture measurements. The experiment involving the fractured borehole model should enhance not only measurement quality but also interpretations of high-resolution and reliable optical imaging logs.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.68-78
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• 2021

A subminiature catadioptric omnidirectional optical system (SCOOS) with 2 mirrors, 6 plastic aspherical lenses, and an illumination system of 6 light emitting diodes, to observe the 360° panoramic image of the inner intestine, is optically designed and evaluated for a capsule endoscope. The total length, overall length, half field of view (HFOV), and F-number of the SCOOS are 14.3 mm, 8.93 mm, 51°~120°, and 3.5, respectively. The optical system has a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor sensor with 0.1 megapixels, and an illumination system of 6 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with 0.25 lm to illuminate on the 360° side view of the intestine along the optical axis. As a result, the spatial frequency at the modulation transfer function (MTF) of 0.3, the depth of focus, and the cumulative probability of tolerance at the Nyquist frequency of 44 lp/mm and MTF of 0.3 of the optimized optical system are obtained as 130 lp/mm, -0.097 mm to +0.076 mm, and 90.5%, respectively. Additionally, the simulated illuminance of the LED illumination system at the inner surface of the intestine within HFOV, at a distance of 15.0 mm from the optical axis, is from a minimum of 315 lx to a maximum of 725 lx, which is a sufficient illumination and visibility.