Recently, the kickoff meeting of the Digital Low Altitude Working Group (DLA WG) of the FuTURE FORUM was successfully held. The kickoff meeting brought together scientists, experts, engineers and corporate representatives from the fields of ICT and low-altitude economy, including Bi Qi, Chief Scientist of China Telecom, Professor Liu Rongke of Beihang University, Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist of China Mobile Research Institute, Professor Hong Wei of Southeast University, Professor Wu Qihui, Vice President of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Li Shipeng, Executive Dean of the Low-altitude Economy Branch of the International Digital Economy Academy (IDEA) of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. They had in-depth exchanges and discussions on topics such as the problems and challenges of building a digital foundation for the low-altitude economy, how technologies such as 5G/6G, integrated sensing and communication, and mmWave technology support the low-altitude economy, and the intelligent integrated infrastructure of the low-altitude economy, as well as the goals and orientation of the Digital Low Altitude Working Group.

Wu Jianjun, Deputy Secretary-General of the FuTURE FORUM, presided the meeting.

Professor Hong Wei, Chairman of the Millimeter Wave Working Group of the FuTURE FORUM, talked about the important applications of mmWave in the low-altitude economy at the kickoff meeting of the Digital Low Altitude Working Group. Especially in the communication and sensing systems of low-altitude aircraft, the mmWave can provide high-precision sensing and large-bandwidth communication capabilities. This is crucial for realizing trajectory recognition, flight control, and video backhaul of low-altitude aircraft.

Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chairman of the 5G/6G SIG Working Group of the FuTURE FORUM, introduced the input to the Digital Low Altitude Working Group from five aspects, including integrated communication and sensing application needs, system design thinking, system performance thinking, architecture thinking, and prototype verification thinking. She suggested that the working group attach importance to the commercial development of low-altitude economy, establish a commercial pattern for the low-altitude economy, and enhance its scale effect.

Dean Li Shipeng pointed out that due to the characteristics of heterogeneity, high-density, high-frequency, and high complexity, low-altitude construction needs to refer to the ground pattern. It cannot be managed using traditional simulation and manual methods. It must adopt digital and intelligent management and requires a unified digital infrastructure.

China has successively introduced policies to advance the development of the low-altitude economy. There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of implementing policies, improving local regulations, and strengthening technical standards. Song Jiwei, Director of the Sensing Technology Research Lab at the Internet of Things Research Center of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, introduced related low-altitude standardization and planning.

Professor Wu Qihui said during the exchange that the biggest difference between the low-altitude intelligent network and the traditional mobile network is that the mobile network serves smart terminals, while the low-altitude intelligent network serves intelligent agents that have the ability of autonomous intelligent control and reading. He pointed out that safety is very important in the development of low-altitude economy. Security covers a wide range of areas, including air domain security, spectrum security, network security, data security, terminal security, system security, etc.
Professor Liu Rongke pointed out that present low-altitude platforms and tasks can be distinguished clearly, but in the future, the platforms and tasks of low-altitude will be integrated. The future low-altitude development requires cross-disciplinary applications. For example, radars may be combined with antennas in the future to achieve integrated development. He expected that the Digital Low Altitude Working Group of the FuTURE FORUM would be able to attract more experts from the civil aviation industry.

When discussing the mission and goals of the Digital Low Altitude Working Group, the Chairman of the Working Group, Mr. Bi Qi, stated that the FuTURE FORUM had already established a long-term mechanism, which was oriented toward the future development of mobile communications technology industry. It would continue to promote exchanges on technologies and output results in terms of standards, key technologies, needs, applications, scenarios, network value, and industrial ecology. At the same time, it would expand exchanges on all fronts and bring together a group of partners and expert teams from the communication industry chain and vertical industry ecology. He expected that the DLA WG of the FuTURE FORUM could incorporate academics into industry, attach importance to the development of the industrial chain, guide the development of key technologies, and combine academic research with industrial development.

Wu Jianjun, Deputy Secretary-General of the FuTURE FORUM, released the organizational structure of the DLA WG. He proposed that the DLA WG had brought together experts from upstream and downstream ecosystems of the industrial chain. They will focus on networks, spectrum, communication and sensing, security, standards, intelligent integrated low-altitude systems and related interfaces, equipment verification, standardization and ecology, and other orientations to build a platform for exchanges on technologies across fields of industry, academia, research, and application. In addition, the working group will study and formulate the low-altitude standardization system, take the lead in building experimental and testing platforms, take the lead in connecting with typical low-altitude application scenarios, and promote the low-altitude economy to truly develop into a mature scale industry under the support of the new generation of information and communications technology.