The Government of South Korea plans to invest $34.7 million (38 billion KRW) in 2021 and support R&D of various unmanned vehicles in order to neutralize illegal drones and to develop a comprehensive system to investigate accidents involving drones.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has finalized on a plan to implement “2021 MSIT Unmanned Vehicle Technology Development Project”.
Budget for next year’s project is set at $34.7 million which is a 41% increase from this year.
The ministry will also push for a new project called “Intelligent Illegal Drones Countermeasure Technology Development Project”, which will last from 2021 to 2025 and be given $43.4 million (47.5 billion KRW) in total, along with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, $16.5 million (18 billion KRW)) and the Korean National Police Agency ($9.14 million (10 billion KRW)) in order to take action against people who perform intimidating acts towards other using commercial drones that do not carry particular loads with them.
The ministry’s goal is to establish a comprehensive system that can carry out every action from detection to post management. It will work on development of technologies that can analyze weak points of illegal drones and neutralize them in real time and a ground-based response system based on radars and electrooptic-infrared and push for combining entire systems into a comprehensive system and testing the comprehensive system. “Unmanned Vehicle Core Technology Development Project ($16.6 million (18.2 billion KRW)) and DNA+ Drone Technology Development ($8.77 million (9.6 billion KRW)) Project” that were initiated this year are expected to see their investments increase in the upcoming year. These projects will focus on development of parts that can be applied to any type of unmanned vehicle and acceleration of implementation of a comprehensive operating system for autonomous cooperation between multiple unmanned vehicles.
The ministry will also invest $1.83 million (2 billion KRW) along with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ($3.38 million (3.7 billion KRW)) and the Korean National Police Agency ($1.65 million (1.8 billion KRW)) to develop “low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle traffic management system technology” for safe and convenient drone operation.
It will also begin work on development of “433 MHZ-based communication technology” for long-distance operation of unmanned vehicles that fly at low altitude and in the invisible zone.
“In order to combat illegal acts using drones, it is urgent for us to develop related technologies that can neutralize these acts.” said Kim Bong-soo who is the director general for the MOTIE’s Fundamental Research Policy. “We will do our best to connect policies and projects that are set up to secure fundamental and core technologies related to unmanned vehicles, develop business models and create markets, and expand infrastructures organically.”
Staff Reporter Choi, Ho | snoop@etnews.com