SK Telecom (CEO Park Jung-ho) is launching the world's first real-time marine surveillance system based on an underwater communication network using underwater base stations and sensor nodes.

SK Telecom announced on the 26th that it conducted a pilot study to monitor ocean pollution in real time by connecting marine pollution detection sensors to an underwater base station-based communication network together with Hoseo University (President Kim Dae-hyun) and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (President Park Won-seok).

SKT said that this is the world's first time that an underwater base station has been used to detect various problems that may occur in the ocean in real time, and that this will be an important opportunity to solve the difficulties in detecting existing seawater pollution in the future.

Currently, to check for pollution in the coastal waters of South Korea, government agencies must collect seawater from the area and then take it to a laboratory for analysis, making it difficult to quickly check for seawater pollution.

This study was conducted from the 23rd to the 27th by installing and testing related equipment at a depth of approximately 30 meters in the waters approximately 4 km in front of Gwangan Bridge in Suyeong-gu, Busan.

The underwater sensor node, equipped with a base station and marine pollution detection sensors installed underwater near Gwangan Bridge, measures marine pollution every 10 minutes and transmits it via sound wave communication from the sensor to the underwater base station and then to the offshore buoy.

The marine buoy is equipped with a 'multi-land communication network switching system' developed for communication at sea along with an underwater communication modem.quo; is equipped to select the optimal communication network and transmit the measured values to the ‘underwater data management platform’ on land.

In addition to transmitting simple measurement values, the management platform monitors and manages various information, including the location and configuration of underwater sensors, underwater base stations, and base station controllers, the communication status of underwater base station controllers, nearby sea LTE coverage, water temperature, and salinity.

In particular, since it is linked to SKT's network optimization solution, it is expected to serve as an important foundation for predicting network coverage and assessing maritime areas that can be linked to underwater networks.

This research, led by Hoseo University, has been jointly conducted since 2015 by SK Telecom, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Kyungpook National University, Chung-Ang University, Inha University, Sangmyung University, Hanyang University, and Kookmin University to secure core technologies for underwater communication networks based on underwater base stations.

This research is expected to become a key infrastructure for the era of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) in Korea, as it not only overcomes the limitations of underwater sound wave communication, which frequently causes communication interruptions, but also enables real-time collection and analysis of observation information underwater, just as on land.

It is also expected to be utilized in a wide range of areas, including early warning of marine pollution, various marine disasters and environmental monitoring, underwater robot communication, marine plant management, disaster response such as tsunamis and undersea earthquakes, fishery resource and marine ecosystem monitoring, and construction of underwater port defense systems.

In addition, with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopting the marine and underwater IoT field as an international standardization task, it is expected that the technologies applied in this study will be established as international standard technologies by 2022.

Professor Koh Hak-rim of Hoseo University said, “The underwater communication technology based on the underwater base station, which is the first of its kind in the world, is a technology that our country has developed in relation to underwater communication technology. “This test is a good example of underwater IoT services, and underwater communication network technology will become a core infrastructure in Korea,” he said.

SKT Infrastructure Operation Group Leader Yoon Hyung-sik said, “We are delighted that SKT’s cutting-edge communications technology can contribute to keeping Korea’s oceans safe,” adding, “Starting with this achievement made possible through collaboration between the public, private, and academic sectors, we will not only lead the era of the underwater Internet of Things, but also take the lead in ESG management, such as solving social problems using ICT.”