Prof.Soonhung Han

Professor and Chair, Division of Ocean Systems Engineering

Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering

Soonhung Han 

 KAIST

 335, Gwahangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea (305-701)

 Phone: +82-42-869-3040

 Fax: +82-42-861-6080

 Email: shhan@kaist.edu

 Homepage: http://icad.kaist.ac.kr/~shhan

 Citations:  🔗  Google scholar 

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  Research Interests

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  Experiences

  Professional Societies

  Awards

  Invited Talks

  Classes and Lectures

  PhD Committee Chairmanships

  Self-assessment of Academic Achieements

My research at KAIST is focused on the international standards for the exchange of product model data, known as STEP (www.tc184-sc4.org). STEP is an ISO standard that comprises more than two hundred books or ten thousand pages. Data integration or sharing is a key element of collaboration and interoperability in modern industry. Twenty-six out of the 44 journal papers listed on my CV are related to STEP.

STEP research combines the knowledge of two different areas: namely, product development and information technology (IT). Knowledge of product development is domain specific. That means various industries such as the automotive industry and shipbuilding industry have different product development processes. Knowledge of IT is centered on engineering database knowledge.

My career in STEP research can be divided roughly into the introduction phase and the new contribution phase. I came to KAIST in March 1993 and the Korean STEP study group, which has now become the Korea STEP Center (www.kstep.or.kr), was established in February 1994. I have been leading the Korean STEP community since the start. Since October 1995 I have led the Korean delegation at ISO STEP meetings about three times a year for a total of 39 meetings. Now I am a member of the Policy Planning Committee of SC4 of the ISO TC184.

Because STEP started in 1984, I joined the community after 10 years of developments. Starting as a member of the Ship team of the STEP community, I endeavored to apply the STEP methods to ship design problems. I also led a team which includes experts from Hitachi, Japan, in applying the STEP method to the nuclear power plant industry of Korea. The project has now evolved into the international Intelligent Manufacturing System (www.ims.org) project VIPNET, and I have been the international coordinating partner since 2007. In addition, I have tried to introduce STEP to Korean experts through a series of domestic workshops and tutorials.

The contribution phase started in 2000. Since then I have led the students of the iCAD laboratory (http://icad.kaist.ac.kr) in developing a history-based parametric translator. History-based parametrics is a current issue in the Parametrics group of the ISO STEP community. The first reviewed paper on the implementation of the translator was published in February 2002. The macro-parametric approach was proposed as a history-based parametric method in which modeling commands are translated whereas the current STEP standard AP203 translates the B-rep model. In recent years the macro-parametric approach and semantic interoperability have developed into a model healing and sketch interface area.

All the members of the iCAD laboratory help implement translators on the basis of macro-parametric approach. By participating in the TransCAD implementation, all the members can learn the C++ programming skill and API (application program interface) programming in several packages, such as the ACIS geometric kernel and a commercial CAD system. TransCAD is a special purpose CAD system dedicated to data translations. The teamwork involved in the software implementation can be a good experience and a great preparation for developing one’s future career.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a new aspect of the research scope of the iCAD laboratory of KAIST. Interoperability is a key issue in PLM because the coverage of PLM is much wider than that of product data management (PDM). Thanks to Professor Deba Dutta of the University of Michigan, I have been able to collaborate with international PLM experts and that experience contributed to the success of the PLM08 (www.plm08.org) event in Seoul.

With regard to the teaching and supervision of students, I have focused on the convergence of IT and mechanical engineering. The three core IT components of a CAD system are computer graphics, databases, and artificial intelligence. These three components, which we apply to engineering design problems that arise from the shipbuilding industry and automotive industry, are now known as virtual reality, PLM, and ontology. In recent years, these three IT components have been the major subjects of classes and theses.

I have supervised the theses of 18 PhD graduates and 43 masters graduates. Four graduates have found jobs in academic institutes and seven work in government research institutes. The rest work in the industry and six of them have started their own businesses.

The Society of CAD/CAM Engineers (www.cadcam.or.kr) was established in Korea in 1995. I served the society as the first general secretary and helped to make it a successful domain-specific society. The Web-based International Journal of CAD/CAM (www.ijcc.org) was launched in 2000, and I served as the first Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Since 2001 Japan and Korea have alternately hosted a joint conference every year. China and Korea began a similar joint conference in 2005.

The next 10 years of my career may be focused on the establishment of a new department of Ocean Systems Engineering (OSE, www.kaist-ocean.org) at KAIST. Korea’s shipbuilding industry is the biggest in the world and there is a need for more talented young people to continue the success of the industry by developing new technologies. As the best university department in Korea, KAIST OSE can support the shipbuilding industry and assist with further deep sea exploration.