The “2023 Drone Demonstration City Project Showcase” was held on the 15th at the lawn plaza of Ulju County Office in Ulsan, with attendees including Ulju County Mayor Lee Soon-geol and County Council Chairman Kim Young-cheol participating in a vision declaration photo session. (Photo: Reporter Lee Su-hwa)
Ulsan City, in collaboration with Ulju County, held the "2023 Drone Demonstration City Project Performance Showcase" on the 15th at the lawn plaza of Ulju County Office.
Hosted by the Ulsan Information Industry Promotion Agency, this showcase was organized to review the outcomes of the "2023 Drone Demonstration City Project," which was selected in March as a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport public contest project and implemented through November. The goal was to present drone commercialization models tailored to the region’s characteristics.
The project was conducted over eight months by the "Ulsan 2023 Drone Demonstration City Consortium" (Ulsan City, Ulju County, Ulsan Information Industry Promotion Agency, SKT, Vololand, AMP, MMP, Aero Research, Prene, and Xenossoft). It focused on verifying drone applications and commercialization models for situations of concern in Ulsan, such as nuclear power plant and industrial complex disasters, and rescue incidents in the Yeongnam Alps.
The showcase invited around 60 participants, including officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Aviation Safety Technology Institute, military, police, fire departments, and related companies, to directly observe the utilization of demonstration drones in various disaster scenarios such as nuclear radiation leaks.
The main demonstration areas included:
Delivery of heavy (50kg) protective equipment for nuclear accidents, Radiation monitoring at altitudes of 50m, 100m, and 150m, Anti-drone response to illegal drone swarms (3 units), Search and rescue of missing persons in the Yeongnam Alps using a reporting app linked with a control center
All drones used in the showcase are autonomously operated through an advanced ultra-connected AI control system developed during the project, flying along automatically generated routes.
The city expects that through next year's drone demonstration city contest, further collaboration with logistics companies and continued testing will lead to commercialization.
The drone industry is anticipated to gain momentum as it forms the foundation of Ulsan's urban air mobility (UAM) initiative, a key strategic industry for the city.
In particular, the experience of demonstrating drones capable of transporting over 50kg in urban areas and the "aerial radio map" created to analyze communication networks in the air are expected to serve as valuable assets for fostering and testing the UAM industry.
A city official stated, "We have confirmed a highly advanced commercialization model for disaster and safety drones and differentiated ourselves by increasing the cargo capacity of delivery drones to 50kg. We will continue to vigorously promote related projects to go beyond being the automotive industry hub and become a leading city in future mobility."
Meanwhile, Ulsan City and Ulju County are promoting various projects to nurture and activate the drone industry, such as:
Operation of the Ulju County Drone Special Free Zone (16 sub-projects including wildfire monitoring and crime prevention), Development of drone-based environmental monitoring technology through autonomous unmanned systems (UNIST), Operation of airspace management for ultralight aerial vehicles.
Ulju County Holds 2023 Drone Demonstration City Project Showcase
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