• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.705-709
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• 2016

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes are widely used in various robot applications. However, these conventional gyroscopes need to vibrate the proof mass using a built-in actuator at a fixed resonance frequency to sense the Coriolis force. When a robot is not moving, the meaningless vibration of the gyroscope wastes power. In addition, this continuous vibration makes the sensor vulnerable to external sound waves with a frequency close to the proof-mass resonance frequency. In this paper, a feasibility study of a new type of gyroscope inspired by insect halteres is presented. In dipterous insects, halteres are a biological gyroscope that measures the Coriolis force. Wing muscles and halteres are mechanically linked, and the halteres oscillate simultaneously with wing beats. The vibrating haltere experiences the Coriolis force if the insect is going through a rotational motion. Inspired by this haltere structure, a gyroscope using a thin mast integrated with a robot actuation mechanism is proposed. The mast vibrates only when the robot is moving without requiring a separate actuator. The Coriolis force of the mast can be measured with an accelerometer installed at the tip of the mast. However, the signal from the accelerometer has multiple frequency components and also can be highly corrupted with noise, such that raw data are not meaningful. This paper also presents a suitable signal processing technique using the amplitude modulation method. The feasibility of the proposed haltere-inspired gyroscope is also experimentally evaluated.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.10 no.12
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• pp.2151-2156
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• 2006

Beamforming for underwater acoustic communication (UAC) is affected by the broadband feature of UAC signal, which has relatively low currier frequency as compared to the signal bandwidth. The narrow-band assumption does not hold good in UAC. In this paper, we discuss a broadband FIR beamformer for UAC using the baseband equivalent way signal model. We consider the broadband FIR beamformer for QPSK UAC with carrier frequency 25kHz and symbol rate 5kHz. Array geometry is a uniform linear way with 8 omni-directional elements and sensor spacing is the half of the carrier wavelength. The simulation results show that the broadband n beamformer achieves nearly optimum signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) and outperforms the conventional narrowband beamformer by SINR 0.5dB when two-tap FIR filter is employed at each sensor and the inter-tap delay is a quarter of the symbol interval. The broadband FIR beamformer performance is more degraded as the FIR filter length is increased above a certain value. If the inter-tap delay is not greater than half of the symbol period, SINR performance does not depend on the inter-tap delay. More training period is required when the inter-tap delay is same as the symbol period.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2007

In order to have a superconductive connection between the wire-wound pickup coil and input coil, typically Nb terminal blocks with screw holes are used. Since this connection structure occupies large volume, large stray pickup area can be generated which can pickup external noise fields. Thus, SQUID and connection block are shielded inside a superconducting tube, and this SQUID module is located at some distance from the distal coil of the gradiometer to minimize the distortion or imbalance of uniform background field due to the superconducting module. To operate this conventional SQUID module, we need a higher liquid He level, resulting in shorter refill interval. To make the fabrication of gradiometers simpler and refill interval longer, we developed a novel method of connecting the pickup coil into the input coil. Gradiometer coil wound of 0.125-mm diameter NbTi wires were glued close to the input coil pads of SQUID. The superconductive connection was made using an ultrasonic bonding of annealed 0.025-mm diameter Nb wires, bonded directly on the surface of NbTi wires where insulation layer was stripped out. The reliability of the superconductive bonding was good enough to sustain several thermal cycling. The stray pickup area due to this connection structure is about $0.1\;mm^2$, much smaller than the typical stray pickup area using the conventional screw block method. By using this compact connection structure, the position of the SQUID sensor is only about 20-30 mm from the distal coil of the gradiometer. Based on this compact module, we fabricated a magnetocardiography system having 61 first-order axial gradiometers, and measured MCG signals. The gradiometers have a coil diameter of 20 mm, and the baseline is 70 mm. The 61 axial gradiometer bobbins were distributed in a hexagonal lattice structure with a sensor interval of 26 mm, measuring $dB_z/dz$ component of magnetocardiography signals.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.493-503
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• 2018

Recently, as living standards have improved, many people are becoming more interested in health, and self-training is increasing through exercise to prevent and manage pre-illness. In general, an imbalance of muscles causes asymmetry of posture, which can cause various diseases by accompanying an adjustment force, circulation action, displacement of internal organs, etc.. In this study, the development of fitness software that can be self - training among smart wears has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this study, a technology was proposed for the commercialization of self - trainer fitness wear by a simulation through Android - based applications. Self - trainer fitness software was developed by combining a conductive polymer, fashion design, sewing, and electric and electronic technology to monitor the unbalance of the muscles during exercise and make smart wear that can calibrate the asymmetry by oneself. In particular, a polymer sensor was fabricated by deriving the optimal MWCNT concentration, and the electrode signal was collected by attaching the electrode to the optimal position, where the electrode signal line using the conductive fiber was designed and attached to collect the signal. A signal module that converts the bio-signals collected through electrical signal conversion and transmits them using Bluetooth communication was designed and manufactured. Self-trainer fitness software that can be commercialized was developed by combining noise cancellation with Android-based self-training application using a software algorithm method.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.208-214
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• 2020

In this study, we have developed a drone magnetic exploration system (proto-type) using a fluxgate magnetic sensor. Hardware of the system consists of a fluxgate magnetometer, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a GPS, and a communication module. And we have developed monitoring software, which enables it to transmit the measured data to the ground control system (GCS) in real time. The measured magnetic data are finally saved as 1 Hz data after passing through a notch filter and a band-pass filter. For verification of this system, a preliminary test was conducted to check the magnetic responses of a magnetic object first, then the field test was carried out in two iron mines. We tested the developed system on the field test in Pocheon, Gyeonggi and Jeongseon, Gangwon. The magnetic data from the developed drone system was very similar to those from unmanned airship system developed by Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM). As a result, preliminary experiment and field test have demonstrated that this system is applicable for outdoor aeromagnetic exploration. It requires more studies to improve filter function and instrument performance to minimize noise in the future.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.56-67
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• 2015

In this study, a source locating technique applicable to transversely isotropic media was developed. Wave velocity anisotropy was considered based on the partition approximation method, which simply enabled AE source locating. Sets of P wave arrival time were decided by the two-step AIC algorithm and they were later used to locate the AE sources when having the least error compared with the partitioned elements. In order to validate the technique, pencil lead break test on artificial transversely isotropic mortar specimen was carried out. Defining the absolute error as the distance between the pencil lead break point and the located point, 1.60 mm ~ 14.46 mm of range and 8.57 mm of average were estimated therefore it was regarded as thought to be 'acceptable' considering the size of the specimen and the AE sensors. Comparing each absolute error under different threshold levels, results showed small discrepancies therefore this technique was hardly affected by background noise. Absolute error could be decomposed into each coordinate axis error and through it, effect of AE sensor position could be understood so if optimum sensor position was able to be decided, one could get more precise outcome.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.357-361
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• 2011

In this study, the liquid-crystal optical modulation X-ray detection system using a CdS which is a family of II-IV compound semiconductor was proposed. The system consist of the detector, the signal processing part, the liquid-crystal driving parts, microcontroller, and I/O parts, and was designed to be suitable for miniaturization and portable. In addition, the system can measure a wide range X-ray by using the detecting range selection. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, the CdS sensor's output characteristics were confirmed in accordance with changes of dose, and excellent correlation was determined. And also, the optical penetration ratio was discussed in accordance with changes of the applied voltage by measuring the change of the liquid-crystal in accordance with changes of the applied voltage. Through these results, the characteristics of the liquid-crystal optical modulation system such as the excellent reproducibility and the noise immunity were confirmed. And we considered that the CdS cell-based liquid-crystal optical modulated portable X-ray detection system could be applied to compact, low-cost, portable system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.237.1-237.1
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• 2014

Etching is one of the most important steps in semiconductor manufacturing. In etch process control a critical task is to stop the etch process when the layer to be etched has been removed. If the etch process is allowed to continue beyond this time, the material gets over-etched and the lower layer is partially removed. On the other hand if the etch process is stopped too early, part of the layer to be etched still remains, called under-etched. Endpoint detection (EPD) is used to detect the most accurate time to stop the etch process in order to avoid over or under etch. The goal of this research is to develop a hardware and software system for EPD. The hardware consists of an Optical Plasma Monitor (OPM) sensor which is used to continuously monitor the plasma optical emission intensity during the etch process. The OPM software was developed to acquire and analyze the data to perform EPD. Our EPD algorithm is based on the following theory. As the etch process starts the plasma generated in the vacuum is added with the by-products from the etch reactions on the layer being etched. As the endpoint reaches and the layer gets completely removed the plasma constituents change gradually changing the optical intensity of the plasma. Although the change in optical intensity is not apparent, the difference in the plasma constituents when the endpoint has reached leaves a unique signature in the data gathered. Though not detectable in time domain, this signature could be obscured in the frequency spectrum of the data. By filtering and analysis of the changes in the frequency spectrum before and after the endpoint we could extract this signature. In order to do that, first, the EPD algorithm converts the time series signal into frequency domain. Next the noise in the frequency spectrum is removed to look for the useful frequency constituents of the data. Once these useful frequencies have been selected, they are monitored continuously in time and using a sub-algorithm the endpoint is detected when significant changes are observed in those signals. The experiment consisted of three kinds of etch processes; ashing, SiO2 on Si etch and metal on Si etch to develop and evaluate the EPD system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2010

Fiber optic sensor using fiber Bragg grating(FBG) probes is used for monitoring strain and temperature distributed on the wide surfaces of large structures. In this paper, in order to use many FBG probes in one optical fiber line, we propose a complex multiplexing technology which is composed of two techniques, one is time division multiplexing and another is wavelength division multiplexing. However, we only investigate the characteristics of time division multiplexing because FBG sensors basically can be operated by wavelength division multiplexing. We calculate the optimal reflectivities and the lengthwise location of five FBG probes in serial connection in order to obtain the unique reflected intensities from the FBG probes. We fabricate five FBG probes with the reflectivities of 13%, 16%, 25%, 40% and 80%, which are determined by the theoretical calculation, and observe the signal reflected from each FBG in the time domain from the experiment. There are differences between experimental and theoretical results caused by the signal noise and the differences of reflectivities of FBG probes. But the experimental results shows the reflected signals of five FBG probes which prove the availability of complex multiplexing.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2008

This work proposes a 12b 1kS/s 65uA 0.35um CMOS algorithmic ADC for sensor interface applications such as accelerometers and gyro sensors requiring high resolution, ultra-low power, and small size simultaneously. The proposed ADC is based on an algorithmic architecture with recycling techniques to optimize sampling rate, resolution, chip area, and power consumption. Two versions of ADCs are fabricated with a conventional open-loop sampling scheme and a closed-loop sampling scheme to investigate the effects of offset and 1/f noise during dynamic operation. Switched bias power-reduction techniques and bias circuit sharing reduce the power consumption of amplifiers in the SHA and MDAC. The current and voltage references are implemented on chip with optional of-chip voltage references for low-power SoC applications. The prototype ADC in a 0.35um 2P4M CMOS technology demonstrates a measured DNL and INL within 0.78LSB and 2.24LSB, and shows a maximum SNDR and SFDR of 60dB and 70dB in versionl, and 63dB and 75dB in version2 at 1kS/s. The versionl and version2 ADCs with an active die area of $0.78mm^2$ and $0.81mm^2$ consume 0.163mW and 0.176mW at 1kS/s and 2.5V, respectively.