• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.614-619
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• 2013

In multi-robot systems, ultrasonic sensors are widely used for localization and/or obstacle detection. However, conventional ultrasonic sensors have a drawback, that is, the interference problem among ultrasonic transmitters. There are some previous studies to avoid interferences, such as TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). In multiple autonomous mobile robots systems, the Doppler-effect has to be considered because ultrasonic transceivers are attached to the moving robots. To overcome this problem, we find out the ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying)-CDMA technique is more robust to the Doppler-effect than the BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying)-CDMA technique. In this paper, we propose a new code-expression method and a Monte-Carlo based algorithm that optimizes the ultrasonic code combination in the ASK-CDMA ultrasonic system. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm improves the performance of the ultrasonic multiple accessing capacity in the ASK-CDMA ultrasonic system.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.69-78
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• 2015

Ultrasonic physiotherapy systems should comply with IEC 60601-2-5(particular requirements for safety of ultrasonic physiotherapy equipment) standard for safety of patients and clinical performances. One of the most important parameters in the standard is the effective radiating area ($A_{ER}$). It has to be measured in accordance with IEC 61689 (field specifications and methods of measurement in the frequency range 0.5MHz to 5MHz). Typical ultrasonic physiotherapy system works in the frequency range 1MHz ~ 3MHz to comply with the IEC 61689. However, ultrasonic physiotherapy system using frequencies over 5MHz is out of the IEC 61689's scope. That is, even if such ultrasonic physiotherapy systems are developed by demands of the market, there is no standard to apply. It is the motivation for this study. Whereas there are other parameters to be considered, this study focuses on the effective radiating area and shows effectiveness of applying IEC 61689 in measuring effective radiating area of ultrasonic physiotherapy systems using frequency range over 5MHz by comparing the results of computer simulation and experiment. Results of this study shows that applying the IEC 61689 standard to ultrasonic physiotherapy system using frequency range over 5MHz is possible.

• 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.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.956-961
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• 2007

We propose a new distance measurement method and local positioning system for the autonomous mobile robots localization. The distance measurement method is able to measure long-range distances with a high accuracy by using ultrasonic sensors. The time of flight of the ultrasonic waves include various noises is calculated accurately by the proposed period detecting method. The proposed local positioning system is composed of four ultrasonic transmitters and one ultrasonic receiver. The ultrasonic transmitter and receiver are separated but they are synchronized by RF (Radio frequency) signal. The proposed system using ultrasonic waves is represented as USAT(Ultrasonic Satellite System). USAT is able to estimate the position using the least square estimation. The experimental results show that the proposed local positioning system enables to estimate the absolute position precisely.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2006

A digital ultrasonic image construction system was developed for the nondestructive detection of cracks in water distribution pipes. The system consists of PC based ultrasonic testing system and a scanning device. The PC based ultrasonic system has an ultrasonic pulse/receive board for the generation and reception of ultrasonic signals, an analogue to digital conversion board for the digitization of the received ultrasonic signals, and transducers for the ultrasonic sensors. Using this system, the digitized ultrasonic signals were properly constructed in accordance with the position information obtained by scanning device that moves an ultrasonic transducer along the outer surface of pipes. In the construction of the ultrasonic signals, signal processing concepts, such as spatial average and array concept, were considered to enhance the resolution of ultrasonic images of pipe wall. Using the developed system, crack detection experiments were performed in both laboratory and field, which shows promise for crack detection in the water distribution system.

• 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.12 no.10
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• pp.955-961
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• 2006

The global ultrasonic system for the self-localization of a mobile robot consists of several ultrasonic transmitters fixed at some reference positions in the global coordinates of robot environment. By activating the ultrasonic transmitters, the mobile robot is able to get the distance to the ultrasonic transmitters and compute its own position in the global coordinate. Due to the limitation on the ultrasonic signal strength and beam width as well as the environmental obstacles however, the ultrasonic signals from some generator may not be transmitted to the robot. Thus, instead of activating the all ultrasonic transmitters, it is necessary to select some ultrasonic generators to activate based on the current robot position. In this paper, we propose a selective activation algorithm for self-localization with the global ultrasonic system. The selective activation algorithm gets the meaningful ultrasonic data at every sampling instants, which results in the faster and more accurate response of the self-localization than the conventional sequential activation. Through the self-localization and path following control, we verify the effectiveness of the proposed selective activation algorithm.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.767-775
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• 2008

Methods used for exploring marine resources and spaces include positioning a probe under water and then recalling it after a specified time. Hydro-acoustic Releasers are commonly used for positioning and retrieving of such exploration equipment. The most important factor in this kind of system is the reliability for recalling the instruments. The frequently used ultrasonic signal detection method can detect ultrasonic signals using a fixed comparator, but because of increased rates of errors due to outside interferences, information is repetitively acquired. This study presents an effective ultrasonic signal detection algorithm using the characteristics of a resonance and adaptive comparator Combined with the FSK+ASK modulator. As a result, approximately 8.8% of ultrasonic wave communication errors caused by background noise and transmission losses were reduced for effectively detecting ultrasonic waves. Furthermore, the resonance circuit's quality factor was enhanced (Q = 120 to 160). As such, the bias voltage of the transistor (Vb= 3.3 to 6.8V) was increased thereby enhancing the frequency's selectivity.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.285-291
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• 2003

Ultrasonic vibrator is an equipment which atomizes and homogenization the oils by breaking the oil particles with ultrasonic cavitation, and would improve the properties. The present study deal with the ultrasonic breaking systems which recycle the shipborne waste oil into usable oil to be burnt. The first place, experimental studies were carried out to investigate the homogenizing effect of the waste oils by ultrasonic cavitation. Variation of the properties(viscosity, specific gravity and pH) and the matrix structures for the various shipborne waste oils were interpreted to analyse the breaking, dispersion effects by ultrasonic cavitation. The experimental results can be useful to the development of waste oil disposing systems.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.707-713
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• 2003

We investigate the ultrasonic gas flow meter for the measurement of gas volume quantity, which passing through pipe, using the transit time difference method. We have designed a receiving system of an ultrasonic signal and hardware system of a flow meter Also, we have designed an experimental system for the characteristic test and calibration of a gas flow meter system. We have developed an ultrasonic gas flow meter, which has a measurement uncertainty within $\pm$ 1.7 %. For the test, we have compared our system with a difference pressure type flow meter for a few months in the real field. Through the test, we have confirmed that our system have a good reliability and durability. Also, we have confirmed that our system follows very well the variation of gas volume quantity, which was measured by a difference pressure type flow meter.