• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.79-87
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• 2011

This paper presents the optimal design of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring for high resolution obstacle detection of an autonomous mobile robot. It is assumed that a set of low directivity ultrasonic sensors of the same type are arranged along a circle of nonzero radius at a regular spacing with their beams overlapped. First, taking into account the dead angle region, the entire range of obstacle detection is determined with reference to the center of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring. Second, the optimal design index of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring is defined as the area closeness of three sensing subzones resulting from beam overlap. Third, the lower and upper bounds on the number of ultrasonic sensors are derived, which can guarantee minimal beam overlap and also avoid excessive beam overlap among adjacent ultrasonic sensors. Fourth, employing a commercial low directivity ultrasonic sensor, an optimal design example of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring is given along with the ultrasonic sensor ring prototype mounted on top of a mobile robot. Finally, some experimental results using our prototype ultrasonic sensor ring are given to demonstrate the validity and performance of an optimally overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring for high resolution obstacle detection.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2003

A global ultrasonic sensor system for self-localization of a mobile robot is proposed in this paper. The global ultrasonic sensor system consists of three or more ultrasonic transmitters fixed at some positions in the world coordinate and receivers in the moving coordinate of a mobile robot. In this global sensor system it is easy to get state vector of the mobile robot in the world coordinate from the distance information between each ultrasonic transmitter and receiver. An extended kalman filter algorithm is used to process the noisy ultrasonic signal and to estimate the state vector. In case of using several independent ultrasonic transmitters, it is necessary to avoid the cross talk among the ultrasonic waves and to synchronize between each ultrasonic transmitter and receiver. The small sized radio frequency modules are adopted to solve the cross talk and the synchronization problem Computer simulation and experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed ultrasonic sensor system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.747-752
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• 2008

Fiber-guided sensor system using a generator and a receiver can detect the amplitude of load or pressure. However, this type of sensor can show some difficulties in detecting the location of damages and pressure loadings. To overcome this weakness of this type, the ultrasonic active fiber sensor, which has an integrated ultrasonic generator and sensing part, was developed in this study. By using this sensor system, the location of mechanical loads can be exactly detected. Moreover, the ultrasonic active fiber sensor is more cost-effective than an ultrasonic fiber sensor using two piezoelectric transducers which are used as a generator and a receiver, respectively. Two applications of the ultrasonic active fiber sensor are demonstrated: cure monitoring of lead and measurement of liquid level. Present results showed that the active fiber sensor can be applied for various environmental sensing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.124-132
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• 2017

With the growth of interest in the UAVs, the study of the UAV collision avoidance is in progress. Lidar, Video camera, laser sensor, and ultrasonic sensor may be utilized for collision avoidance of UAV. In this paper, the characteristics of MB 1230 ultrasonic sensor is analyzed through the experiment. When concurrently using multitudinous ultrasonic sensors, ultrasonic sensors do not generate correct measurement values. To solve ultrasonic sensor interference, sequentially transmitting ultrasonics signal is suggested by using 'Enable' signal input of ultrasonic sensor, so by activating each ultrasonic sensor gradually. This proposed solution is also verified by experimentation.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07d
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• pp.2421-2423
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• 2002

A global ultrasonic sensor system for self-localization of an indoor mobile robot is proposed in this paper. By the global ultrasonic sensor system, it is meant several ultrasonic transmitters fixed at some positions in the world coordinate and the receiver in the moving coordinate of a mobile robot. In order to achieve the synchronization between an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver and to avoid the crosstalk among the ultrasonic transmitters, simple radio frequency transmitters and receivers are adopted. Experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed ultrasonic sensor system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.321-324
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• 1997

In this study, Efficiency estimation of ultrasonic sensor fabricated with porous piezoelectric resonator by experiment of 3-D underwater object recognition are presented. The sensor was satisfied with requirement of ultrasonic sensor. The recognition rates for the fixed objects and the translation-rotation objects are 95.3 and 92.7[%], respectively using porous piezoelectric ultrasonic sensor and SOFM neural network. According to the experimental results, It is believed that the self-made ultrasonic sensor can be applied as underwater ultrasonic sensor.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2010

This paper presents the optimal design method of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring for reduced positional uncertainty, and its application to the obstacle detection with improved resolution. Basically, it is assumed that a set of ultrasonic sensors are installed to form a circle at regular intervals with their beams overlapped. First, exploiting the overlapped beam pattern, the positional uncertainty inherent to an ultrasonic sensor is shown to be significantly reduced. Second, for an ideal ultrasonic sensor ring of zero radius, the effective beam width is defined to represent the positional uncertainty, and the optimal number of ultrasonic sensors required for minimal effective beam width is obtained. Third, for an actual ultrasonic sensor ring of nonzero radius, the design index is defined to represent the degree of positional uncertainty, and an optimal design of an overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring consisting of commercial ultrasonic sensors with low directivity is given. Fourth, given measured distances from ultrasonic sensors, the geometric method is described to compute the obstacle position with reference to the center of a mobile robot. Finally, through experiments using our overlapped ultrasonic sensor ring prototype, the validity and performance of the proposed method is demonstrated.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.668-671
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• 2004

This paper proposes a new method of sensor fusion of an ultrasonic sensor and a vision sensor at the sensor level. In general vision system, the vision system finds edges of objects. And in general ultrasonic system, the ultrasonic system finds absolute distance between robot and object. So, the method integrates data of two different types. The system makes perfect output for robot control in the end. But this paper does not propose only integrating a different kind of data but also fusion information which receives from different kind of sensors. This method has advantages which can simply embody algorithm and can control robot on real time.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.263-270
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• 2008

The performance of an ultrasonic array sensor is determined by the properties of constituent materials and the effects of many structural parameters. In this study, with the finite element method, variation of the performances of an ultrasonic array sensor was analyzed in relation to its structural variables. Based on the analysis result, the structure of the ultrasonic array sensor was optimized to provide the highest sensitivity while satisfying such requirements as fractional bandwidth, center frequency and -20 dB pulse length. The optimization was carried out with the SQP-PD method for a target function composed of the ultrasonic array sensor performance. The optimized ultrasonic array sensor satisfied all the required specifications to be applicable to medical imaging diagnosis. The design technology in this paper can be utilized for other ultrasonic array sensors of a similar structure.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2021

In this study, we successfully developed a highly reliable ultrasonic sediment sensor to detect the sediment levels in sewer pipes in harsh environments. The ultrasonic transducer employed in the ultrasonic sediment sensor was designed so as to possess a simple structure. The developed sensor was carefully optimized by simulating the electromechanical characteristics, radiated sound wave pressures, and directivity via finite element analysis. It was also designed to possess a simple mounting structure minimizing the flow disturbance in a 400-mm sewer pipe; additionally, eight ultrasonic transducers were arranged in a four-channel mode, allowing for measurement of the sediment height in five easy steps. Through experimental evaluations, we verified the performance of the ultrasonic sediment-level sensor and its industrial applicability. The results suggested that although the precision value was notably low at 15 mm, the sediment detection performance was adequate; therefore, the developed sensor can potentially be used in industrial applications.