On March 18, Meissa was selected for the second consecutive year in the evaluation for the 2022 Drone Demonstration Project public competition, which targeted local governments and drone companies.
The regulatory sandbox is a regulation-deferral system that drives the explosive growth of new industries—so much so that it has earned the nickname 'a testing ground for innovation.' It is a major program in which outstanding results and proven usefulness in the field can lead all the way to legislative amendments. A total of 64 consortiums (33 demonstration cities and 31 sandbox projects) applied for this competition, and operators were selected through an evaluation committee composed of experts from industry, academia, and research institutes, who rigorously assessed each project's suitability, potential overlap with other projects, and prospects for commercialization and business development. In particular, this round applied stringent evaluation criteria, as previous-year participants whose final evaluation scores fell below a certain threshold would find it difficult to be reselected.
The Meissa consortium's project this time is a 'comprehensive drone-based on-site management system for preventing serious accidents, managing safety, and enabling emergency response at construction sites.' Building on the coordinate-based spatial information secured through the drone-based process-progress management system that was its 2021 project, Meissa plans to combine IoT and AI detection modules into a single solution, developing it into a solution that enables intuitive safety management and response.
▲Conceptual diagram of a drone-based on-site management and emergency response solution that can be used at any time on typical construction sites
The regulations that can be deferred through Meissa's sandbox project are as follows:
- Restrictions on beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight
- The 30-day filming permit period for industrial drones
- The ban on nighttime flight
- Flight approval required for flights at altitudes above 150 m
To the spatial information acquired by drones,
AI detection technology and IoT transmission/reception technology are applied
This consortium includes Raycomm Co., Ltd., which develops modules that recognize caution, hazard, and emergency situations using an IoT LoRa network; Spinaweb Co., Ltd., which develops modules that recognize caution, hazard, and emergency situations in CCTV footage using big-data AI; and Nota Inc., which develops technologies for lightening and optimizing the AI models mounted in the solution—together building an organically integrated real-time communication network.
The project plans to conduct research demonstrations in the second half of this year at selected construction and civil engineering sites operated by the end users, Dongbu Corporation and Chungcheong Co., Ltd.
Spatial information collected by drones is already being used as foundational data for digital twins through precise technology. In addition, through this sandbox demonstration, Meissa plans to advance into a sophisticated IoT solution capable of detecting and responding to serious accidents in real time.
