• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.3_1spc
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• pp.607-614
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• 2013

This paper proposes a robot driving system and sensor implementation for use with an education robot. This robot has multiple functions and was designed so that children could use it with interest and ease. The robot recognizes the location of a user and follows that user at a specific distance when the robot and user communicate with each other. In this work, the robot was designed and manufactured to evaluate its performance. In addition, an embedded board was installed with the purpose of communicating with a smart phone, and a camera mounted on the robot allowed it to monitor the environment. To allow the robot to follow a moving user, a set of sensors combined with an RF module and ultrasonic sensors were adopted to measure the distance between the user and the robot. With the help of this ultrasonic sensors arrangement, the location of the user couldbe identified in all directions, which allowed the robot to follow the moving user at the desired distance. Experiments were carried out to see how well the user's location could be recognized and to investigate how accurately the robot trackedthe user, which eventually yielded a satisfactory performance.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.304-309
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• 2001

A Fiber optic strain sensor for the measurement of the internal strain of a concrete specimen was developed. This sensor was a 11 mm Fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer attached inside a stainless steel pipe of 2 mm diameter. The fabricated strain sensors were embedded in a reinforced concrete structure of $100{\times}100{\times}500\;mm^3$ size and were measured the internal strain of a concrete structure when the external pressure was applied to the structure. For a field application, the strain sensors were attached on the bottom of a real bridge and dynamic loading test were executed. In the test, they showed good sensitivity as a deformation sensor and capability of remote monitoring.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.381-395
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• 2009

The paper presents a case study in which the structural condition assessment of the East Bay bridge in Gibsonton, Florida is evaluated with the help of remote health monitoring techniques. The bridge is a four-span, continuous, deck-type reinforced concrete structure supported on prestressed pile bents, and is instrumented with smart Fiber Optic Sensors. The sensors used for remote health monitoring are the newly emerged Fabry-Perot (FP), and are both surface-mounted and embedded in the deck. The sensing system can be accessed remotely through fast Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), which permits the evaluation of the bridge behavior under live traffic loads. The bridge was open to traffic since March 2005, and the collected structural data have been continuously analyzed since. The data revealed an increase in strain readings, which suggests a progression in damage. Recent visual observations also indicated the presence of longitudinal cracks along the bridge length. After the formation of these cracks, the sensors readings were analyzed and used to extrapolate the values of the maximum stresses at the crack location. The data obtained were also compared to initial design values of the bridge under factored gravity and live loads. The study showed that the proposed structural health monitoring technique proved to provide an efficient mean for condition assessment of bridge structures providing it is implemented and analyzed with care.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.545-559
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• 2010

This paper presents the results of a pilot study and verification of a concept of a novel methodology for damage detection and assessment of water distribution system. The unique feature of the proposed noninvasive methodology is the use of accelerometers installed on the pipe surface, instead of pressure sensors that are traditionally installed invasively. Experimental observations show that a sharp change in pressure is always accompanied by a sharp change of pipe surface acceleration at the corresponding locations along the pipe length. Therefore, water pressure-monitoring can be transformed into acceleration-monitoring of the pipe surface. The latter is a significantly more economical alternative due to the use of less expensive sensors such as MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) or other acceleration sensors. In this scenario, monitoring is made for Maximum Pipe Acceleration Gradient (MPAG) rather than Maximum Water Head Gradient (MWHG). This paper presents the results of a small-scale laboratory experiment that serves as the proof of concept of the proposed technology. The ultimate goal of this study is to improve upon the existing SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) by integrating the proposed non-invasive monitoring techniques to ultimately develop the next generation SCADA system for water distribution systems.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2016

Recently, the u-IT applications for plants and livestock become larger and control of livestock farm environment has been used important in the field of industry. We implemented wireless sensor networks and farm environment automatic control system for applying to the breeding barn environment by calculating the THI index. First, we gathered environmental information like livestock object temperature, heart rate and momentum. And we also collected the farm environment data including temperature, humidity and illuminance for calculating the THI index. Then we provide accurate control action roof open and electric fan in of intelligent farm to keep the best state automatically by using collected data. We believed this technology can improve industrial competitiveness through the u-IT based smart integrated management system introduction for industry aversion and dairy industries labor shortages due to hard work and old ageing.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2013

Considerations of how to facilitate aging-in-place(AIP) are becoming increasingly pertinent as care-givers are overwhelmed by an aging population. Aging friendly home-care services combined with IT can satisfy the needs of the elderly suffer from chronic diseases such as depression and dementia. Therefore, we propose future smart phone services and application technologies which can estimate emotional states of the aged and respond to the desire to be happy with mental health, connectedness and consolation from peoples. Firstly, we introduce depression measurement techniques to estimate the severity of depression using multiple sensors. At second, the emotional responding services are categorized to four parts and the details are described. Lastly, we propose the process to implement emotional communication and the application techniques(services) to fulfill the emotional satisfaction and mental healthcare for AIP using smart phone as a mediator.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.612-618
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• 2003

A hybrid vibration control scheme using ER fluid and PZT patches is proposed. Dynamic characteristics of the beam embedded with the ER fluid can be controled by changing the strength of the electric field applied on the ER fluid, thus provides a mean to avoid the resonance. It was found that active vibration control of the structure embedded with ER fluid failed to suppress the vibration excited with broad band frequency due to the limited change of the dynamic characteristics of the structure. To compensate this limited effect of the control scheme with ER fluid alone, PPF control using PZT patches as sensors and actuators is added to construct a hybrid controller. Experimental results suggests that proposed hybrid controller is effective to suppress the additional resonance vibration that appears when each controller is used alone.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2015

In this paper we propose a walking aid system for blind people by exploiting a haptic feedback equipment. The proposed system is a form of haptic feedback cane which is composed of MCU, communication module, sensing module and actuator. The proposed system recognizes obstacles around the blind by using ultrasonic sensors in the sensing module. Moreover, the system generates feedback information about the detected obstacle and then notifies the information to the blind through the actuator. The blind can notice the direction of the detected obstacle with the haptic feedback equipment and vibration motor. Futhermore, the proposed system controls a nearby IoT(Internet of Things) system by utilizing push buttons through the ZigBee communication. Finally, the blind can easily decide the direction of the obstacle without interference of terrain feature by using the proposed system.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.136-142
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• 2008

Mobile robots can offer services like intelligent monitoring in an indoor environment using network connection with remote users. In this paper, we designed and developed a networked security robot system with various sensors, such as flame detector, gas detector, sound monitoring module, and temperature sensor, etc. The robot can be accessed through a web service and the user can check the status of the environment. Using ADAMS software, we defined the motor specification for a worst-case condition of climbing over a obstacle. We applied the robot system in monitoring office condition.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 2007

This paper propose a control network system based on IEEE1394 for a multi body robot control. The IEEE1394 has the characteristic of high speed(400Mbps), real-time, stability and plug&play. And IEEE1394 also supports freeform daisy chaining, branching and hot plugging, which reduce cabling complexity and make a system simple. Especially, multi host and broad casting support network data sharing method which is suitable for control network for multi body robot. Through experiment, we show that the proposed control network can interface 48 joints (BLDC motors, gears, and encoders) and four 6-axis force/torque sensors with 4Khz communication bandwidth, which is adequate for a multi body robot.