ETRI’s drone communication tech is selected as international standards

South Korean researchers have developed international standards for drone communication, solving the problem of drones being unable to exchange information due to different communication standards among manufacturers.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), a Korean government-funded research institution specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced on Tuesday that four contributions related to "unmanned aircraft communication networks" had been established as international standards at a meeting of the International Standardization Organization held in Vienna on Mar. 22.

The newly established international standards include a drone communication model and requirements that prevent collision risks between flying drones, enabling the simultaneous operation of hundreds of drones.

These detailed technologies, including shared communication, control communication and image communication, can provide drone-related services such as drone control and image transmission, drone recognition between drones, autonomous collision avoidance, illegal drone detection, recognition of moving obstacles and communication with take-off and landing fields as a single integrated communication platform.

The communication distance of these standards is approximately 5 km, and not only drones but also helicopters can recognize each other, ensuring flight safety between manned and unmanned aircraft. The ETRI research team explained that lightweight and low-cost communication modems are highly suitable for drone recognition services.

The approval of these drone-distributed communication technologies as international standards is expected to lead to numerous international standard patents. Furthermore, this development will be a significant boost in leading future air mobility services, including home automation, vehicle control, indoor navigation, smartphone kiosk connection and child protection while traveling to school, apprehending offenders and searching for missing persons.

Write to Hae-Sung Lee at ihs@hankyung.com