On August 2, the 2024 Digital Low Altitude Conference, co-organized by Peng Cheng Laboratory and the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum, was held at Kylin Villa in Shenzhen, Guangdong. With the theme of "Building a Solid Digital Foundation, Promoting Low Altitude Development", this conference brought together top experts and corporate representatives from civil aviation, radio, information and communications technology (ICT), and low-altitude application fields to discuss hot topics.

As a typical example of strategic emerging industries and new quality productive forces, the low-altitude economy is gradually becoming a reality within reach, empowering the construction of a modern industrial system and turning into an emerging field with great vitality and development potential on a global scale. The development of the low-altitude economy cannot be separated from the support of digital infrastructure. The low-altitude economy pre-requires stable and reliable communication as well as the sensing network for its smooth performance. This conference focused on "Digital Low Altitude" and comprehensively discussed how the digital foundation safeguarded the development of the low-altitude economy.

Fang Xinping, Deputy Director of the Information Development Bureau of the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, and Gao Wen, Director of Peng Cheng Laboratory and Academician of CAE, addressed the conference. Li Jian, former Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), You Xiaohu, Deputy Director of Peng Cheng Laboratory, Director of Purple Mountain Laboratories, Vice President and Secretary-General of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum and Academician of CAE, Shen Xiangyang, Initiator and President of the International Digital Economy Academy (IDEA) of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and foreign academician of the US National Academy of Engineering, Wu Qihui, Vice President of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Kan Runtian, Vice President and Secretary-General of The Radio Association of China, Wang Xiaoyun, Chief Scientist and Deputy Chief Engineer of China Mobile, Bi Qi, Chief Scientist of China Telecom, Ma Hongbing, General Manager of Science and Technology Innovation Department of China Unicom, and many other important experts gave wonderful reports at the meeting.

Fang Xinping, Deputy Director of the Information Development Bureau of the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission

Fang Xinping pointed out that the development of low-altitude economy requires strengthening of top-level design and layout, and improving related policies, technologies, standards, industries and regulatory systems of low-altitude economy. Promoting the innovative integration of digital technologies (such as 5G, 6G, communication and sensing, and high-precision navigation) with the low-altitude flight industry, proactively planning low-altitude information infrastructure for the space-air-ground coordination and the integration of communication, sensing, navigation, and control, such efforts will help build a solid digital foundation for the development of the low-altitude economy. In her speech, she said that giving full play to the low-altitude economy industry cluster, carrying out pilot demonstrations of application innovation, and developing new models of low-altitude economy applications suiting local conditions are helpful to the continuous growth of the innovation ecosystem of low-altitude industries.

Gao Wen, Director of Peng Cheng Laboratory and Academician of CAE

Academician Gao Wen proposed that in order to promote the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy, three "foundations" must be built firmly, namely the policy "foundation", the digital technology "foundation", and the service "foundation". In the past two years, the "foundation" of China's low-altitude economy has gradually consolidated under the promotion of relevant national departments and all sectors. The digital technology "foundation" is the core factor for the successful implementation of the low-altitude economy. However, the existing 4G and 5G networks are not fully adapted to the low-altitude economy. They lack the necessary sensing capabilities and are unable to effectively monitor activities in the air domain. He stressed that the development of low-altitude networks requires the sensing capability to identify and monitor UAVs and other aircraft in the air domain. This is the main technical bottleneck in the current development of the low-altitude economy and an urgent issue that needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

At present, certain breakthroughs in low-altitude communication sensing networks have been achieved in China. The reporter learned at the conference that the Peng Cheng Laboratory has built a key technology verification platform for low-altitude economy, which can achieve low-altitude environment reconstruction at meter-level granularity, with a sensing distance of more than 1 km and an edge communication rate of no less than 50 Mbps. The platform can realize stable, robust and secure low-altitude three-dimensional network coverage, and improve the monitoring and management of aircraft in low-altitude environment.

You Xiaohu, Deputy Director of Peng Cheng Laboratory, Director of Purple Mountain Laboratories, Vice President and Secretary-General of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum, and Academician of CAE

At the same time, the early application of some 6G individual technology is benefiting the low-altitude economy. Academician You Xiaohu introduced in his report "6G and Low-altitude Internet" that low-altitude economic application is a typical scenario for testing the comprehensive capabilities of 6G technology. The use of cell-free millimeter wave (mmWave) integrated sensing and communication can significantly enhance the existing 5G communication and sensing capabilities. It is a technical route worthy of exploration in the construction of low-altitude ICT infrastructure. It has been initially verified in low-altitude ultra-long-distance and wide-area coverage applications, including fishery administration, urban governance, pipeline inspection, etc.

This conference proposed and defined the concept of "digital low altitude", which aims to turn low-altitude aircraft into intelligent agents, make the low-altitude air domain networks into intelligent networks based on communications technology, sensing technology, radar technology, information technology, data technology, industry wisdom, etc., and ultimately empower the digitization, intelligence, and automation of low-altitude flight, and consolidate the low-altitude flight "economic form".

The FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum established the Digital Low Altitude Working Group (DLA WG) in 2024, proposing to base itself on the value structure of "driving and enabling the development of the low-altitude economy through our leading ICT technology chain", and proposed to promote low altitude scenarios to become typical scenarios and applications of 6G, and contribute to 6G standardization. The working group was officially launched at this conference and released its vision. The working group will be committed to promoting the formation of a technical architecture system for low-altitude intelligent information infrastructure, advancing the development of standards and specifications, making progress in system testing and evaluation, forming a certification mechanism, and driving the construction of a low-altitude economic industry ecosystem.

The 2024 Digital Low Altitude Conference reached a broad consensus on the core role of information infrastructure in the low-altitude economy. The guests at the conference generally believed that through the joint efforts of the information and communications industry, low-altitude application sector and civil aviation sector, the low-altitude economy will surely grow into a mature large-scale industry.