A domestic research team is developing a technology that combines data, networks, and artificial intelligence (DNA) with drones and is actively working to activate the development of drone services.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that it will build a test bed for the development of real-time drone services using DNA+drone platform technology that enables everything from drone data acquisition to real-time transmission and real-time AI analysis, utilizing the results of the 'DNA+Drone Technology Development Project.'

The research team explained that this test bed will serve as a catalyst for the revitalization of the drone industry along with the disclosure of ETRI's technology.

Drones can currently only fly within the pilot's visual range.

However, in the future, the importance of drone communications is gradually receiving attention as it will be necessary to perform non-line-of-sight drone missions and real-time intelligence missions.

For researchers, factors such as the occurrence of communication dead zones, deterioration of communication performance during flight, and limitations in the transmission capacity of captured images have been obstacles to the activation of the drone industry.

To solve this problem, ETRI is conducting research on applying 5G mobile communications to drone communications so that drone communications can be made possible anytime, anywhere.

A representative example is the development of a drone-only 5G aerial communication system utilizing 'Eum5G'.

This system provides communication quality optimized for drone flight altitude with an airborne directional antenna.

It can also maximize uplink capacity for drone data transmission. Above all, by deploying the DNA+ drone platform in the 5G core system, faster intelligent drone services are also possible.

ETRI also joined hands with small and medium-sized enterprises and local governments to continuously utilize research results.

We are currently conducting research with Gaion, the largest drone service company in Korea, on the '5G B2B Service Activation' project being promoted by the Korea Intelligence Information Society Agency.

In addition, in cooperation with Gongju-si, Chungcheongnam-do, which has the third largest drone-only flight zone in Korea, a test bed for the development and verification of real-time drone services will be built in the Geumgang area, and the research team will support DNA+ drone technology.

Meanwhile, the DNA+drone platform owned by the research team includes: △DNA+drone workspace, △DNA+drone standard sensor data, △drone image AI inference model, and △DNA+AIP.

DNA+Drone Workspace provides a web-based working environment for using the DNA+Drone platform.

DNA+Drone standard sensor data includes various drone spatial and temporal information along with video.

With the drone video AI inference model, you can experience an AI inference model based on aerial footage that was difficult to experience before.

ETRI Air Mobility Headquarters Director Lim Chae-deok said, “We will actively support the development of new application services by opening the DNA+ drone platform so that anyone can utilize the technology possessed by the research team.”

In addition, ETRI expects that through the construction of this real-time drone service test bed, full-scale real-time DNA+ drone services will become possible.

The DNA+ Drone Technology Development Project aims to develop a drone convergence service platform, implement a non-line-of-sight autonomous/swarm flight and real-time production/utilization system for drone data based on 5G communication, and create a new drone business model.This is a task of developing infrastructure technology for export.

ETRI decided to solve current issues in Gongju City, such as management of the Geumgang River basin and monitoring of cultural heritage facilities, along with commercialization of the DNA+drone service and drone-only 5G system based on the DNA+drone platform and drone real-time test bed.

This study is being conducted with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT as a major result of the DNA+Drone Technology Development Project.

From 2020 to 2022, the research team published 42 papers, including 39 domestic and international patent applications and excellent academic papers such as SCI papers, through this project.

In addition, two international standards and two standard patents have been secured.

ETRI applied for the open competition for the '5G B2B Service Activation' project supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and promoted by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Intelligence Information Society, and was selected for the '5G Specialized Network-based Drone Convergence Service Demonstration' project, which will lead to full-scale promotion of the commercialization of DNA+ drones.