Jong-Geol Kim

Range sonar array based SLAM for P-SURO AUV in a partially known environment

In this paper, we present a range sonar array based SLAM method for P-SURO AUV which is a test-bed for developing various underwater technologies. The vehicles operating environment is a 12(L)x8(W)x6(D)m dimensional cuboid basin and its wall information is assumed to be known in priori. With this information, we propose an EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) SLAM method for the vehicles operation in the basin. For range sonar, its measurement, in this paper, is modeled as a Gaussian distribution where the standard deviation is a function of sonar attack angle. Experimental studies are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed SLAM method.

Development of an intelligent autonomous underwater vehicle, P-SURO

P-SURO is a prototype autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which is under development as a test-bed for developing underwater technologies such as underwater vision, underwater navigation, and guidance. This vehicle is a hovering type with four thrusters mounted to steer its 6DOF underwater motion, a color camera is mounted at the vehicles nose for underwater vision, and an AHRS combined with one depth sensor and three range sonars construct an inertial navigation system. In this paper, we report the details of constructions of the vehicle system, and its three core modules - vision module, navigation module, and control module.

Path planning using coastal navigation for an underwater structure inspecting H-AUV

Like coastal navigation, which keeps distance from coast for knowing the ships position, we consider features on an underwater Jacket structure for safer and more reliable autonomous navigation. The features would be useful information for autonomous navigation as well as localization of hovering-type AUVs (H-AUVs), which inspect an underwater Jacket structure. Based on the feature information, we define the concepts, “certainty” and “reliability”, and we explain a path planning algorithm, which modifies a variation of Bi-RRT algorithm to consider the reliability of paths much more. The simulation experimental results show that the explained path planning algorithm generates safer and more reliable path for autonomous navigation of an H-AUV.

Path planning for uncertainty reduced monitoring

For automating the monitoring works of a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV), we developed a path planning algorithm, which generates a efficient monitoring path for a semi-autonomous ROV. Firstly we categorized five typed sensor information in 2D Euclidean space, and defined the certainty for the sensor information and its space. Moreover, we defined the reliability function for comparing the superiority of various paths. Then, a modified genetic algorithm is used as a path planning algorithm. Two predefined paths and three random paths in a certainty space are compared with the paths generated by the planning algorithm. The experimental results showed that all generated paths by the path planning with genetic algorithm are superior than any other compared paths.

Development of P-SURO II Hybrid Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and its Experimental Studies

In this paper, we present the development of P-SURO II hybrid AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) which can be operated in both of AUV and ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) modes. In its AUV mode, the vehicle is supposed to carry out some of underwater missions which are difficult to be achieved in ROV mode due to the tether cable. To accomplish its missions such as inspection and maintenance of complex underwater structures in AUV mode, the vehicle is required to have high level of autonomy including environmental recognition, obstacle avoidance, autonomous navigation, and so on. In addition to its systematic development issues, some of algorithmic issues are also discussed in this paper. Various experimental studies are also presented to demonstrate these developed autonomy algorithms.

An underwater cleaning robot for industrial reservoirs

Underwater robot could be used to clean the bottom of industrial reservoirs without draining thousands of tons of water. This paper describes an ongoing effort, an underwater cleaning robot, PIRO-U3 at Pohang Institute of Intelligent Robotics.

Circuit Design and Simulation of Hydraulic System that Applied Optional Redundancy about Hydraulic Pumps for Track-Based Seabed ROV

The track based ROV shown in figure 1 have high weight and frictional force, so it is useful to doing heavy work. But, the concept of improving the reliability of the ROV has not been applied despite the fact that the remote operation is performed at a distance. In this paper, design and simulation hydraulic system applying selective redundancy based on multiple hydraulic power pack about the track based ROV in order to improve the reliability of the track based ROV.

Docking technique for manta-type UUV and its experimental studies in water tank environment

We present an underwater docking technique for a manta-type unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) which is under development in Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence (KIRO). The manta-type UUV is a test-bed vehicle for demonstrating an autonomous docking technique in the water tank [1]. There are two cameras mounted in front of the vehicle for vision-based underwater localization around docking station. There is a range sonar array mounted in front of the vehicle. This sonar is used for obstacle avoidance, and also can be used as a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) solution in a partially known environment. In this paper, we show the results of a remote docking experimentation performed in the water tank for the manta-type UUV. From the results, we verify the docking performance of a manta-type UUV and applicability of the developed docking station.

The development of the modular autonomous underwater navigation system based on OPRoS

This paper addresses the design method of navigation system for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which includes overall navigation architecture, hardware and software structure. This paper is focused on how to build the integrated underwater navigation module which is applicable to various types of underwater vehicle rather than the navigation algorithm, itself. The autonomous underwater navigation system consists of many software, hardware components and the systematic integration of these components is very important to build up the efficient navigation system within the given resources. In order to achieve this goal, we introduce the systematic integration manner developing the modular autonomous underwater navigation system based on Open Platform for Robotic Service (OPRoS) [1].

3D current effect simulation for an underwater vehicle and obstacles

In this paper, we describe the research progress about the path planning for AUVs in underwater space. Considering the importance of water current for underwater movement, we modeled a pillar of a sea wide-bridge and an AUV, P-SURO II, and then simulated and confirm the distorted water current around them, using OpenFOAM CFD tool.