• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3E
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• pp.104-110
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• 2007

As the exploration of the seabed is extended ever further, automated recognition and classification of sonar images become increasingly important. However, most of the methods ignore the directional information and its effect on the image textures produced. To deal with this problem, we apply 2D Gabor filters to extract the features of sonar images. The filters are designed with constrained parameters to reduce the complexity and to improve the calculation efficiency. Meanwhile, at each orientation, the optimal Gabor filter parameters will be selected with the help of bandwidth parameters based on the Fisher criterion. This method can overcome some disadvantages of the traditional approaches of extracting texture features, and improve the recognition rate effectively.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3E
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• pp.77-83
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• 2008

In the process of the sonar image textures produced, the orientation and scale factors are very significant. However, most of the related methods ignore the directional information and scale invariance or just pay attention to one of them. To overcome this problem, we apply Gabor wavelet to extract the features of sonar images, which combine the advantages of both the Gabor filter and traditional wavelet function. The mother wavelet is designed with constrained parameters and the optimal parameters will be selected at each orientation, with the help of bandwidth parameters based on the Fisher criterion. The Gabor wavelet can have the properties of both multi-scale and multi-orientation. Based on our experiment, this method is more appropriate than traditional wavelet or single Gabor filter as it provides the better discrimination of the textures and improves the recognition rate effectively. Meanwhile, comparing with other fusion methods, it can reduce the complexity and improve the calculation efficiency.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.135-141
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• 2016

Recently, the needs for the development and application of marine robots are increasing as marine accidents occur frequently. However, it is very difficult to acquire the information by utilizing marine robots in the marine environment. Therefore, the needs for the researches of sensor networks which are composed of underwater, surface and aerial robots are increasing in order to acquire the information effectively as the information from heterogeneous robots has less limitation in terms of coverage and connectivity. Although various researches of the sensor network which is based on marine robots have been executed, all of the underwater, surface and aerial robots have not yet been considered in the sensor network. To solve this problem, a collaborative control method based on the acoustic information and image by the sonars of the underwater robot, the acoustic information by the sonar of the surface robot and the optical image by the camera of the static-floating aerial robot is proposed. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the collaborative control of a MUR(Micro Underwater Robot) with an OAS(Obstacle Avoidance Sonar) and a SSS(Side Scan Sonar), a MSR(Micro Surface Robot) with an OAS and a BMAR(Balloon-based Micro Aerial Robot) with a camera are executed. The test results show the possibility of real applications and the need for additional studies.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.108-118
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• 2017

This paper presents experimental results of realtime sonar-based SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) using probability-based landmark-recognition. The sonar-based SLAM is used for navigation of underwater robot. Inertial sensor as IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and DVL (Doppler Velocity Log) and external information from sonar image processing are fused by Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) technique to get the navigation information. The vehicle location is estimated by inertial sensor data, and it is corrected by sonar data which provides relative position between the vehicle and the landmark on the bottom of the basin. For the verification of the proposed method, the experiments were performed in a basin environment using an underwater robot, yShark.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2023

Reconstructing underwater geometry in real time with forward-looking sonar is critical for applications such as localization, mapping, and path planning. Geometrical data must be repeatedly calculated and overwritten in real time because the reliability of the acoustic data is affected by various factors. Moreover, scattering of signal data during the coordinate conversion process may lead to geometrical errors, which lowers the accuracy of the information obtained by the sensor system. In this study, we propose a three-step data processing method with low computational cost for real-time operation. First, the number of data points to be interpolated is determined with respect to the distance between each point and the size of the data grid in a Cartesian coordinate system. Then, the data are processed with a nonlinear interpolation so that they exhibit linear properties in the coordinate system. Finally, the data are transformed based on variations in the position and orientation of the sonar over time. The results of an evaluation of our proposed approach in a simulation show that the nonlinear interpolation operation constructed a continuous underwater geometry dataset with low geometrical error.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 2019

In this paper, the performance verification of an around-view sonar and an excavation depth measuring sonar applicable to track-based ROVs (Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles) for heavy duty work is studied. For the performance verification, an experiment is carried out in a water tank and at sea by attaching the around-view sonar and the excavation depth measuring sonar for a heavy work ROV. In the case of the around-view sonar, image sonars are mounted on ROV in four directions (front, back, left and right) and in the case of the excavation depth measuring sonar, the same kind of MBES (Multi Beam Echo Sounder) is mounted on the front of the ROV. The result of an operation test of the ROV equipped with these sonars shows that the sonar systems are rarely affected by high turbidity due to sedimentation during the operation. In the case of the around-view sonar, it is possible to see rock formation, gravel and sandbank 30 m ahead of the ROV. It is confirmed that the excavation depth can be measured after the ROV has performed the excavation. This experiment demonstrates that the ROV can improve the efficiency of the work by utilizing the around-view sonar and the excavation depth measuring sonar.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1984.12a
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• pp.96-99
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• 1984

In this study, the underwater acoustic images were obtained by ultrasonicwave. The experiment was performed in the anechoic watertank, using a passive sonar array for one and two sound source respectively by X-Y scanning technique. The receiving array was consist of 8 disc type transducers with 1.5cm diameter at 25KHz resonance frequency. The scanned data were processed by the FORTRAN IV algorithm for the reconstruction of image, and the image had some noise due to the surface reflected waves. As the result, it was found that the acoustic imaging by electrical deflection and dynamic focusing technique is applicable to SONAR with the suppression of surface reflected wave.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.116-122
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• 2016

This paper proposes a practical object shape reconstruction method using an underwater imaging sonar. In order to reconstruct the object shape, three methods are utilized. Firstly, the vertical field of view of imaging sonar is modified to narrow angle to reduce an uncertainty of estimated 3D position. The wide vertical field of view makes the incorrect estimation result about the 3D position of the underwater object. Secondly, simple noise filtering and range detection methods are designed to extract a distance from the sonar image. Lastly, a low pass filter is adopted to estimate a probability of voxel occupancy. To demonstrate the proposed methods, object shape reconstruction for three sample objects was performed in a basin and results are explained.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.679-687
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• 2019

This paper presents the autonomous swimming technology developed for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) operating in the underwater jacket structure environment. To prevent the position divergence of the inertial navigation system constructed for the primary navigation solution for the vehicle, we've developed kinds of marker-recognition based underwater localization methods using both of optical and acoustic cameras. However, these two methods all require the artificial markers to be located near to the cameras mounted on the vehicle. Therefore, in the case of the vehicle far away from the structure where the markers are usually mounted on, we may need alternative position-aiding solution to guarantee the navigation accuracy. For this purpose, we develop a sonar image processing based underwater localization method using a Forward Looking Sonar (FLS) mounted in front of the vehicle. The primary purpose of this FLS is to detect the obstacles in front of the vehicle. According to the detected obstacle(s), we apply an Occupancy Grid Map (OGM) based path planning algorithm to derive an obstacle collision-free reference path. Experimental studies are carried out in the water tank and also in the Pohang Yeongilman port sea environment to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed autonomous swimming technology.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.216-221
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• 2000

This paper deals with the Gain Control in the processing of the underwater acoustic image obtained from side scan sonar(SSS) system. At first, this paper describes the principles of SSS that is a surveying equipment for the underground of the rivers or dams as well as sea floor. Then this paper analyzes the cause and effects of the time varying intensity from the view point of transmission loss and beam pattern. At last, the time varying gain filter that is adopted by the towfish is introduced.