• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제6권5_6호
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• pp.675-687
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• 2010

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is the science and technology of monitoring and assessing the condition of aerospace, civil and mechanical infrastructures using a sensing system integrated into the structure. Impedance-based SHM measures impedance of a structure using a PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) patch. This paper presents a low-power wireless autonomous and active SHM node called Autonomous SHM Sensor 2 (ASN-2), which is based on the impedance method. In this study, we incorporated three methods to save power. First, entire data processing is performed on-board, which minimizes radio transmission time. Considering that the radio of a wireless sensor node consumes the highest power among all modules, reduction of the transmission time saves substantial power. Second, a rectangular pulse train is used to excite a PZT patch instead of a sinusoidal wave. This eliminates a digital-to-analog converter and reduces the memory space. Third, ASN-2 senses the phase of the response signal instead of the magnitude. Sensing the phase of the signal eliminates an analog-to-digital converter and Fast Fourier Transform operation, which not only saves power, but also enables us to use a low-end low-power processor. Our SHM sensor node ASN-2 is implemented using a TI MSP430 microcontroller evaluation board. A cluster of ASN-2 nodes forms a wireless network. Each node wakes up at a predetermined interval, such as once in four hours, performs an SHM operation, reports the result to the central node wirelessly, and returns to sleep. The power consumption of our ASN-2 is 0.15 mW during the inactive mode and 18 mW during the active mode. Each SHM operation takes about 13 seconds to consume 236 mJ. When our ASN-2 operates once in every four hours, it is estimated to run for about 2.5 years with two AAA-size batteries ignoring the internal battery leakage.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.48-55
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• 2019

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using communications, sensors, and navigation equipment will play a key role in future warfare. Currently, UAVs are monitored to prevent misfire and accidents, and the conventional method adopted uses wires for data transmission and power supply. The repeated connection and disconnection of cables increases maintenance time and harms the connector. For convenience and stability, a wireless power transfer system to power UAVs is needed. Unlike other wireless power transfer (WPT) applications, the size of the receiving coils must be small, so that the WPT systems can be embedded inside space-limited UAVs. The small size reduces the coupling coefficient and transfer efficiency between the transmitting and the receiving coils. In this study, we propose a toroidal-shaped coil for a WPT system for UAVs with high coupling coefficient with minimum space requirements. For validation, conventional coils and the proposed toroidal-shaped coil were used and their coupling coefficient and power transfer efficiency were compared using simulated and measured results. The simulated and measured results were strongly correlated, confirming that the proposed WPT system significantly improved efficiency with negligible change in the space requirement.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.199-205
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• 2016

We present a novel schematic using a 3-dB coupler to transmit radiofrequency (RF) power to two receivers selectively. Whereas previous multiple receiver supporting schemes used hardware-switched methods, our scheme uses a soft power-allocating method, which has the advantage of variable power allocation in real time to each receiver. Using our scheme, we can split the charging area and focus the RF power on the targeted areas. We present our soft power-allocating method in three main points. First, we propose a new power distribution hardware structure using a FPGA (field-programmable gate array) and a 3-dB coupler. It can reconfigure the transmitting power to two receivers selectively using accurate FPGA-controlled signals with the aid of software. Second, we propose a power control method in our platform. We can variably control the total power of transmitter using the DC bias of the drain input of the amplifier. Third, we provide the possibility of expansion in multiple systems by extending these two wireless power transfer systems. We believe that this method is a new approach to controlling power amplifier output softly to support multiple receivers.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.805-814
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• 2016

Electric-field coupled power transfer (ECPT) systems have been proposed as an alternative wireless power transfer (WPT) technology in recent years. With the use of capacitive plates as a coupling structure, ECPT systems have many advantages such as design flexibility, reduced volume of the coupling structure and metal penetration ability. In addition, wireless communications are effective solutions to improve the safety and controllability of ECPT systems. This paper proposes a power and signal shared channel for electric-field coupled power transfer systems. The shared channel includes two similar electrical circuits with a band pass filter and a signal detection resistor in each. This is designed based on the traditional current-fed push-pull topology. An analysis of the mutual interference between the power and signal transmission, the channel power and signal attenuations, and the dynamic characteristic of the signal channel are conducted to determine the values for the electrical components of the proposed shared channel. Experimental results show that the designed channel can transfer over 100W of output power and data with a data rate from 300bps to 120 kbps.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
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• 제17권10호
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• pp.2239-2244
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• 2013

산업용 기기는 전력 공급용 전선으로 인해 이동성에 제약이 따른다. 최근 자유로운 이동성이 요구되는 산업용 기기의 무선 전력 공급에 관한 연구가 많은 주목을 받고 있다. 본 논문에서는 근거리에서 장비의 배터리에 무선으로 전력을 공급하는 자기 유도방식의 시스템을 제안한다. 제안하는 시스템은 13.56 MHz에서 동작하며, 송수신 전력 모듈간의 거리는 20~30 mm으로 설계하였다. 실험을 통해 제안하는 시스템으로 약 15 V 의 배터리를 충전하는데 135 분이 걸리는 것을 확인하였다.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제17권3_4호
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• pp.331-346
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• 2004

A new sensor system is proposed for measuring damage indexes. The damage index is a physical value that is well correlated to a critical damage in a device or a structure. The mechanism proposed here utilizes elastic buckling of a thin wire and does not require any external power supply for memorizing the index. The mechanisms to detect peak strain, peak displacement, peak acceleration and cumulative deformation as examples of damage indexes are presented. Furthermore, passive and active wireless data retrieval mechanisms using electromagnetic induction are proposed. The passive wireless system is achieved by forming a closed LC circuit to oscillate at its natural frequency. The active wireless sensor can transmit the data much further than the passive system at the sacrifice of slightly complicated electric circuit for the sensor. For wireless data retrieval, no wire is needed for the sensor to supply electrical power. For the active system, electrical power is supplied to the sensor by radio waves emitted from the retrieval system. Thus, external power supply is only needed for the retrieval system when the retrieval becomes necessary. Theoretical and experimental studies to show excellent performance of the proposed sensor are presented. Finally, a prototype damage index sensor installed into a 7 storey base-isolated building is explained.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제11권12호
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• pp.5943-5962
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• 2017

A resource allocation algorithm based on simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) to maximize the system throughput is proposed in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) relay networks. The algorithm formulates the problem under the peak power constraints of the source and each subcarrier (SC), and the energy causality constraint of the relay. With the given SC allocation of the source, we give and prove the optimal propositions of the formulated problem. Then, the formulated problem could be decomposed into two separate throughput maximization sub-problems by setting the total power to transfer energy. Finally, several SC allocation schemes are proposed, which are energy priority scheme, information priority scheme, balanced allocation scheme and exhaustive scheme. The simulation results reveal that the energy priority scheme can significantly reduce computational complexity and achieve approximate performance with the exhaustive scheme.

• 인터넷정보학회논문지
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.151-160
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• 2009

무선 네트워크 솔루션은 자유로운 이동성과 설치의 간편성 때문에 많은 영역에서 사용되고 있다. 무선 네트워크를 구성하는 센서들이 서로 정보를 공유하기 위해서는 무선통신을 지원하는 프로토콜이 필요하다. 대표적인 프로토콜은 Mobile IPv6가 있다. 그러나 각 센서들은 제한된 전력과 컴퓨팅 능력을 갖기 때문에 이 프로토콜을 사용하는 것은 매우 비효율적이다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해 에너지 효율을 높일 수 있는 개선된 센서 회로를 설계하였으며, 센서 네트워크상에서 필요하지 않은 센서를 휴면상태로 둠으로써 에너지 소비를 줄일 수 있는 알고리즘을 구성하였다.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.7-14
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• 2015

In a multi-hop wireless network, connectivity is determined by the link that is established by the receiving signal strength computed by subtracting the path loss from the transmission power. Two path loss models are commonly used in research, namely two-ray ground and shadow fading, which determine the receiving signal strength and affect the link quality. Link quality is one of the key factors that affect network performance. In general, network performance improves with better link quality in a wireless network. In this study, we measure the network connectivity and performance in a shadow fading path loss model, and our observation shows that both are severely degraded in this path loss model. To improve network performance, we propose power control schemes utilizing link quality to identify the set of nodes required to adjust the transmission power in order to improve the network throughput in both homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-hop wireless networks. Numerical studies to evaluate the proposed schemes are presented and compared.

• 한국군사과학기술학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.204-210
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• 2021

In this paper, we studied a method of wirelessly checking up the POD for captive flight tests which is performed during the development of guided weapons systems. The wireless power transfer module, the power distribution device, and the battery pack were designed to wirelessly power the captive flight test POD, and the communication device was designed to enable wireless communication between the POD and the check-up device. The communication device was designed to enable WiFi, IR communication, and laser diode communication, so that various communication methods could be tested. Through the performance test, it was confirmed that power was stably supplied to the captive flight test POD, and the wireless communication performance was verified by measuring the delay time and error rate. As a result, by using our system the POD check-up for the captive flight test was performed wirelessly and the data of the captive equipment could be obtained effectively.