South Korean Government is starting a verification project to promote drone industry and to find new business models. It is planning to use drones to examine power lines and to deliver medical supplies and aids to remote areas.
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) made an announcement on the 25th that it is going to officially start demonstration of drones in two areas in examination of powerlines and parcel service.
MOTIE selected two consortiums (Korea Electric Power Corporation and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) out of eight consortiums that applied for supply business of robots that will create new markets in February.
Power line examination project is a task to prevent power outage and others by checking any damages or irregularities in real time by filming wires, insulators and others that are located on top of telephone poles instead of having a person going up on poles. MOTIE is planning to introduce drones to actual power distribution lines after first verifying drones at practice facilities such as Jeungpyeong Substation and others where power facilities are checked. Self-flight system and self-examination system of power lines that is based on formation of 3D maps are systems that are not yet revealed to other parts of the world.

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<A drone is transporting medical supplies. >

Parcel service project will verify drones’ abilities to quickly deliver medical supplies and aids to areas such as islands and mountain areas where deliveries cannot reach easily. Locations for this project will be Goheung (islands) that is free of regulations and Yeongwol (mountain are) that have areas where drones can demonstrate their technologies. These drones will compete to be the world’s best drones in this field by completing all procedures such as departure, flight, delivery, and return automatically.
South Korean Government chose drones as one of 19 future driving forces and has been supporting drone industry. It also recently announced its plan to improve regulations regarding drones at 5th Meeting of Ministers for Reformation of Regulations.
“I expect that creation of early drone markets will accelerate as regulations regarding drones become more lenient and as there are more verification projects to find new business models.” said a representative for MOTIE. “We are going to support drones to become a new driving force by concentrating on verification projects, development of technologies, convergence with related industries, establishment of testbeds and others to expand drones’ uses towards demands that look promising.”
Staff Reporter Yang, Jongseok | jsyang@etnews.com