• ETRI Journal
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.580-593
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• 2021

When operating in confined spaces or near obstacles, collision-free path planning is an essential requirement for autonomous exploration in unknown environments. This study presents an autonomous exploration technique using a carefully designed collision-free local planner. Using LiDAR range measurements, a local end-point selection method is designed, and the path is generated from the current position to the selected end-point. The generated path showed the consistent collision-free path in real-time by adopting the Euclidean signed distance field-based grid-search method. The results consistently demonstrated the safety and reliability of the proposed path-planning method. Real-world experiments are conducted in three different mines, demonstrating successful autonomous exploration flights in environment with various structural conditions. The results showed the high capability of the proposed flight autonomy framework for lightweight aerial robot systems. In addition, our drone performed an autonomous mission in the tunnel circuit competition (Phase 1) of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.1035-1047
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• 2015

Wind tunnel experiment and computational analysis have been carried out to evaluate the performance of propeller for scale electric-powered HALE UAV, named EAV-2H+. Performance curves are measured for three propellers and their adequacy for EAV-2H+ installation is examined through consideration of operating conditions. Decline in performance coefficients is observed in low rpm region. Also, the effect of transition tape on propeller performance is measured and analyzed. The computational performance analyses are carried out by using commercial CFD program. The thrust and power coefficient from computations show good agreement with experimental results. Performance coefficients are compared and the influence of measurement device which contributes to discrepancy of the results is examined. Transition SST model is confirmed to yield the tendency of performance decline in low rpm range, similar to experimental observation. The decrease in aerodynamic performance of blade element due to low Reynolds number is identified to cause the decline in propeller performance. Analyses for high altitude conditions confirms degradation in propeller performance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.3410-3415
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• 2014

The heat generated by electronic devices can result in performance degradation. Therefore, a heat sink has been used to release the operating heat into the air outside. This study addressed a methodology for a heat sink with an inner tunnel. Under forced convection conditions, the heat transfer characteristics were different so the cooling and heating performances were studied for the heat sink with an inner tunnel. This was evaluated by performing the experimental test examining the heat transfer characteristics related to the variance in time and temperature distribution. In the cooling experiment, the temperature of the A-shape was lower than that of the B-shape, when the voltage was 10 V. These experimental results indicate the optimal cooling effect. In a heating experiment, the temperature of the A-shape was higher than that of the B-shape, when the voltage was 13 V. The experimental results showed that the temperature and efficiency of the A-shape were higher than those of the B-shape.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1031-1043
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• 2017

Recently severe drought caused the water shortage around the western parts of Chungcheongnamdo province, South Korea. A Diversion tunnel from the Geum river to the Boryong dam, which is the water supply dam for these areas has been proposed to solve this problem. This study examined hydraulic impacts on the Geum river associated with the diversion plan assuming the severe drought condition of 2015 would persist for the simulation period of 2016. The hydraulic simulation model was verified using hydrologic and hydraulic data including hourly discharges of the Geum river and its 8 tributaries, fluctuation of tidal level at the mouth of the river, withdrawals and return flows and operation records of the Geum river barrage since Feb. 1, 2015 through May 31, 2015. For the upstream boundary condition of the Geum river predicted inflow series using the nonlinear regression equation for 2015 discharge data was used. In order to estimate the effects of uncertainty in inflow prediction to the results total four inflow series consisting of upper limit flow, expected flow, lower limit flow and instream flow were used to examine hydraulic impacts of the diversion plan. The simulation showed that in cases of upper limit and expected flows there would be no problem in taking water from the Geum river mouth with a minimum water surface level of EL(+) 1.44 m. Meanwhile, the simulation also showed that in cases of lower limit flow and instream flow there would be some problems not only in taking water for water supply from the mouth of the Geum river but also operating the diversion facility itself with minimum water surface levels of EL(+) 0.94, 0.72, 0.43, and 0.14 m for the lower limit flow without/with diversion and the instream flow without/with diversion, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2011

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories for next generation. It has the excellent features including nonvolatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack is composed of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of magnetic materials should be developed. Among various magnetic materials, FePt has been used for pinned layer of MTJ stack. The previous etch study of FePt magnetic thin films was carried out using $CH_4/O_2/NH_3$. It reported only the etch characteristics with respect to the variation of RF bias powers. In this study, the etch characteristics of FePt thin films have been investigated using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etcher in various etch chemistries containing $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin film was employed as a hard mask. FePt thin films are etched by varying the gas concentration. The etch characteristics have been investigated in terms of etch rate, etch selectivity and etch profile. Furthermore, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is applied to elucidate the etch mechanism of FePt thin films in $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ chemistries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.390-390
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• 2012

Information technology industries has grown rapidly and demanded alternative memories for the next generation. The most popular random access memory, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), has many advantages as a memory, but it could not meet the demands from the current of developed industries. One of highlighted alternative memories is magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). It has many advantages like low power consumption, huge storage, high operating speed, and non-volatile properties. MRAM consists of magnetic-tunnel-junction (MTJ) stack which is a key part of it and has various magnetic thin films like CoFeB, FePt, IrMn, and so on. Each magnetic thin film is difficult to be etched without any damages and react with chemical species in plasma. For improving the etching process, a high density plasma etching process was employed. Moreover, the previous etching gases were highly corrosive and dangerous. Therefore, the safety etching gases are needed to be developed. In this research, the etch characteristics of CoFeB magnetic thin films were studied by using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin films were used as a hardmask on CoFeB thin films. The concentrations of $O_2$ in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix were varied, and then, the rf coil power, gas pressure, and dc-bias voltage. The etch rates and the selectivity were obtained by a surface profiler and the etch profiles were observed by a field emission scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to reveal the etch mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.387-387
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• 2013

Currently, the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) have been used in a variety of applications. However, the downsizing of devices and the increasing density of recording medias are now in progress. So there are many demands for development of new semiconductor memory for next generation. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories with excellent features including non-volatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM is composed of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack consists of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. Recently, MgO thin films have attracted a great attention as the prominent candidates for a tunneling barrier layer in the MTJ stack instead of the conventional Al2O3 films, because it has low Gibbs energy, low dielectric constant and high tunneling magnetoresistance value. For the successful etching of high density MRAM, the etching characteristics of MgO thin films as a tunneling barrier layer should be developed. In this study, the etch characteristics of MgO thin films have been investigated in various gas mixes using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE). The Cl2/Ar, CH3OH/Ar, and CH4/Ar gas mix were employed to find an optimized etching gas for MgO thin film etching. TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask to increase the etch selectivity. The etch rates were obtained using surface profilometer and etch profiles were observed by using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2020

In order to study the resistance test technique for the submerged body in Large Cavitation Tunnel (LCT), DARPA Suboff, submarine model publicly available was manufactured. DTRC released the resistance test data of DARPA Suboff conducted at ship speeds up to 18.0 knots in high-speed towing tank in 1990. As LCT is considered restricted waterways with walls, the resistance test results must be corrected with three wall blockage effects called buoyancy effect, solid blockage effect and wake blockage effect. Before correction, the resistance of LCT was 16~20 % higher than that of DTRC. After correction, the resistance and the resistance coefficients were compared with those of DTRC. The corrected resistance of LCT shows good agreement with that of DTRC. The residual resistance coefficient shows the difference according to the calculation method of buoyancy and frictional resistance coefficient. This paper suggests the best way for the calculation of residual resistance coefficient, On the basis of the present study, it is thought that the operating conditions for the propeller cavitation and noise tests can be drawn through LCT tests.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

In order to improve the propeller cavitation performance composed of Cavitation Inception Speed (CIS), cavitation extent and pressure fluctuation, it needs to improve the wake distribution that flows into the propeller. The warship propeller cavitation is strongly influenced by the wake created at the V-strut of various appendages. The inflow characteristics of the V-strut were investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the twisted angles of the V-strut were aligned with upstream flow. The resistance and self-propulsion tests for the model ship with the existing and modified V-struts were conducted in Towing Tank (TT), and wake distribution, CIS, cavitation observation and pressure fluctuation tests were conducted in Large Cavitation Tunnel (LCT). The propeller behind the modified V-strut showed better cavitation characteristics than that behind the existing V-strut. Another model test was conducted to investigate rudder cavitation performance by the change of the V-strut. The rudder cavitation characteristics were not improved by the change of the operating conditions. On the basis of the present study, it is thought that the stern appendages for better propeller cavitation performance would be developed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.487-497
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• 2023

Penetration rate (PR) and penetration depth (Pe) are crucial parameters for estimating the cost and time required in tunnel construction using tunnel boring machines (TBMs). This study focuses on investigating the impact of rock strength on PR and Pe through full-scale experiments. By conducting controlled tests on rock-like specimens, the study aims to understand the contributions of various ground parameters and machine-operating conditions to TBM excavation performance. An earth pressure balanced (EPB) TBM with a sectional diameter of 3.54 m was utilized in the experiments. The TBM excavated rocklike specimens with varying uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), while the thrust and cutterhead rotational speed were controlled. The results highlight the significance of the interplay between thrust, cutterhead speed, and rock strength (UCS) in determining Pe. In high UCS conditions exceeding 70 MPa, thrust plays a vital role in enhancing Pe as hard rock requires a greater thrust force for excavation. Conversely, in medium-to-low UCS conditions less than 50 MPa, thrust has a weak relationship with Pe, and Pe becomes directly proportional to the cutterhead rotational speed. Furthermore, a strong correlation was observed between Pe and cutterhead torque with a determination coefficient of 0.84. Based on these findings, a predictive model for Pe is proposed, incorporating thrust, TBM diameter, number of disc cutters, and UCS. This model offers a practical tool for estimating Pe in different excavation scenarios. The study presents unprecedented full-scale TBM excavation results, with well-controlled experiments, shedding light on the interplay between rock strength, TBM operational variables, and excavation performance. These insights are valuable for optimizing TBM excavation in grounds with varying strengths and operational conditions.