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[Oct, 2024, NEWS in JoongBoo Ilbo] Prof. Wook Park and Prof. Sunkook Kim's team at Kyung Hee University and Sungkyunkwan University collaborate to develop next-generation anti-counterfeiting technology
Professor Wook Park and his research team at the Department of Electronic Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Sunkook Kim’s team from Sungkyunkwan University, have developed a next-generation anti-counterfeiting technology using a random laser ablation technique. The research findings were published in Nature Communications (IF=14.7) under the title, Random Laser Ablated Tags for Anticounterfeiting Purposes and Towards Physically Unclonable Functions. This new method uses a nanosecond pulsed infrared laser to etch random crater patterns onto silicon wafers, creating tags with high-security features and Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs).
[Oct, 2024, Focus NEWS in KHU] Professor Wook Park’s Research Team in the Department of Electronic Engineering Develops New Secure Micro-Particles
Undergraduate researcher Mingyeom Jeong publishes as the first author in an international journal.
Professor Wook Park’s research team in the Department of Electronic Engineering has developed new secure micro-particles. The research results were published in the international journal ACS Applied Polymer Materials (Q1, IF=4.5, Polymer Science). This study is particularly meaningful as it was conducted by undergraduate researcher Mingyeom Jeong (4th-year Electronic Engineering student) through a undergraduate research student course.
[Jul, 2024, Focus NEWS in KHU] A research team led by Professor Wook Park at from the Department of Electronic Engineering has developed the world’s first four-dimensional physical unclonable function (PUF) technology
Hackers are increasingly targeting home webcams and smart home devices, leading to privacy breaches and demands for ransom. Thus next-generation security systems for internet of things (IoT) devices are needed more than ever. The 4D PUF developed by Professor Park’s research team introduces temporal variation elements into traditional PUF technology, creating an innovative solution designed to effectively combat hacking threats.
[Jan, 2023, Campus NEWS in CHOSUN Ilbo] A research team led by Prof. Seung-A Lee at Yonsei University, in collaboration with Prof. Wook Park's team at Kyung Hee University, has become the first in the world to develop a groundbreaking technology for mass-producing new optical components, a core element of lensless camera technology.
The research team successfully created a camera that is more than five times thinner than conventional miniature cameras. They demonstrated its applicability not only in image capture but also in optical information processing, thereby presenting the first proof of commercialization potential for lensless camera core technology. Notably, this study employed a phase retrieval algorithm to design a variety of phase masks and enabled their rapid production using a single exposure process, significantly surpassing the cost efficiency of traditional nanofabrication methods.
This innovative advancement is expected to accelerate the commercialization of lensless camera technology, enabling its use in diverse applications such as general photography, fingerprint recognition, and facial recognition through computational imaging techniques.
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[Oct, 2021, Focus NEWS in KHU] Professor Wook Park at the Department of Electronic Engineering and his research team developed a microscale intelligent robot.
Movies set in the future often feature miniature medical robots in the size of a dust particle being used to cure people from the inside the body. Unsurprisingly, such tiny robots loaded with complex mechanical devices, sensors, and drivetrains are yet to be realized, as robots less than a few micrometers (μm, one-millionth of a meter) in size do not have sufficient interior space to hold necessary components and motion controllers that they must have access to external electric and magnetic sources for power and control. To this conundrum, Professor Wook Park and his joint research team including Professor Sunghoon Kwon (Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University) and Dr. Yeongjae Choi (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University) has developed a novel solution.
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[Sep, 2020, NEWS in VERITAS α] Prof. Kwon and Dr. Bae at Seoul National University in collaboration with Prof. Wook Park at Kyung Hee University, Dr. Choi from at Harvard University has successfully developed a next-generation data storage device, the DNA-Disk, which could replace traditional hard disks.
Unlike conventional hard disks, where digital data is stored in individual files, DNA memory exists in powder form, which has made it challenging to selectively separate, store, and retrieve specific information. Additionally, traditional DNA memory systems have been unable to read data repeatedly. Addressing these limitations, the joint research team has developed the world’s first DNA memory technology that allows file-level separation and storage in the form of a DNA-Disk.
The DNA containing the information is stored on DNA-Disks about the size of a strand of hair. Since different pieces of information are physically stored on separate disks, this technology enables easier data management. As a result, DNA-Disks capable of holding tens of exabytes (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes) of information can be housed in a data center no larger than the size of a palm. Furthermore, while conventional DNA memory systems degrade after more than 10 repeated readings, the DNA-Disk has been confirmed to read data stably over dozens of iterations, offering significantly improved durability and reliability.
[May, 2019, NEWS in DHNEWS] Prof. Kwon at Seoul National University in collaboration with Prof. Wook Park at Kyung Hee University Develop World’s Most Cost-Effective DNA Memory Technology
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution drives an explosive increase in the demand for data storage, next-generation memory technologies are becoming more crucial. Major IT companies like Microsoft and Intel have already begun focusing on DNA-based memory to overcome the limitations of existing storage media. DNA-based memory converts digital information, composed of 0s and 1s, into DNA sequences made up of A, C, G, and T, and stores it chemically by synthesizing DNA. This cutting-edge technology boasts exceptionally high density and preservation capabilities, capable of storing a year’s worth of global data production in just 4 grams of powder. Additionally, DNA memory requires no power consumption for data management, making it highly energy-efficient. The joint research team has developed a groundbreaking technology that reduces the cost of DNA memory by more than half. The key innovation involves introducing 11 types of degenerate bases to the four standard DNA bases (A, C, G, and T) during the conversion of digital information into DNA sequences. As a result, the length of DNA sequences representing the data is halved, effectively cutting storage costs by 50%. The research team has demonstrated that this technology offers the highest cost-efficiency among all DNA memory technologies published to date.
[Aug, 2017, Focus NEWS in KHU] Securiy for Intellectual Property (IP) will be increasingly more critical in the age of industry 4.0
The demand for cryptography is also increasing accordingly. The research team led by Professor Wook Park of the Department of Electronics and Radio Engineering developed a new “unclonable security technology” that has garnered much attention from international media. The new technology consists of creating very complex maze patterns that range from 10s to 100s µm in size. With this technology, a series of sophisticated 3D structures with wrinkling can be made with the same directionality but each with unique, individual patterns: a structure cannot be duplicated even with the same material and the same manufacturing process. This inimitability is a key trait for security applications, as the new technology is expected to be widely used as Physical Unclonable Function (PUF). The findings were published on the June 30th issue of Science Advances, a Science publication. It was also introduced in other science magazines including Discover and New Scientist.
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[Mar, 2015, YonhapNews] Researchers Develop Artificial Micro Fingerprint for Counterfeit Prevention
Among various technologies designed to prevent counterfeiting, one common approach involves embedding micrometer-scale microtaggants into the surface or contents of products. These identifiers, too small to be seen with the naked eye, offer the advantage of being virtually invisible. However, conventional methods rely on predictable patterns such as barcodes, making them susceptible to duplication. To address these challenges, researchers have developed an "artificial micro fingerprint" that mimics human fingerprints. This innovation combines high resistance to replication with the flexibility to easily encode and read data. The micro-scale identifier incorporates natural wrinkle patterns, with randomly distributed minutiae within these wrinkles. Minutiae refer to specific features of fingerprint ridges, such as ridge endings, where the ridges abruptly terminate, and bifurcations, where two ridges intersect. Since the number and placement of these minutiae vary from person to person, comparing them can determine fingerprint matches. The artificial micro fingerprints are highly secure due to the unpredictability of the wrinkle formation process, making them extremely difficult to replicate. Furthermore, they can be easily scanned using existing fingerprint recognition systems. Professor Wook Park commented, "We expect this newly developed artificial fingerprint technology to be widely applied to banknotes, pharmaceuticals, and high-value items, fundamentally preventing counterfeiting and tampering."
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[Nov, 2012, News in Joongdo Ilbo] Advanced Micro-Identifiers Revolutionize Counterfeit Drug Prevention
The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally relied on packaging-based identifiers to differentiate genuine products from counterfeits. However, these methods are prone to duplication, and once the packaging is removed, verifying the drug’s authenticity becomes difficult. To address this, researchers have developed microtaggants—microscale particles embedded directly into individual pills. Unlike previous methods that relied on simple shapes or inscriptions, the new technology incorporates QR code technology into dust-sized identifiers, allowing up to 100 times more information to be stored. These biocompatible polymer microtaggants are safe for human use and can hold critical product data such as drug name, ingredients, production date, and expiration date. By embedding the identifiers directly into the drug material, counterfeit production is prevented at the source, bypassing the limitations of packaging-based methods. The team also advanced encoding technology by converting 2D planar QR codes into three-dimensional particles with embossed and engraved structures, creating a unified, durable microstructure. This process enables high-speed, mass production of complex 3D microtaggants, making it a scalable solution for the pharmaceutical industry.
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