On December 5, ZTE's 'Building Low-Altitude Roads' themed experience exchange event was held at the Shenzhen Talent Park, a low-altitude economic demonstration zone jointly built by China Mobile and ZTE. During the event, ZTE demonstrated complex trajectory flights of multiple drones and trajectory perception demonstrations for commercial Meituan drones. Additionally, Cui Yijun, Director of ZTE's Wireless Future Lab, and Zhao Zhiyong, Director of ZTE's 5G-A Sensing and Communication Products, shared ZTE's innovative practices and insights in the field of low-altitude economics from the perspectives of policy, technology, and industry applications.

Trinity of Policy-Application-Technology Drives Accelerated Development of Low-Altitude Economy

Cui Yijun mentioned that the accelerated development of the low-altitude economy is primarily driven by the integration of policy, application, and technology. Firstly, policy-driven factors are crucial for the continuous upgrading of the low-altitude economic strategy. In recent years, top-level national planning has been deepening, injecting strong momentum into the development of the low-altitude economy. In 2021, the concept of the low-altitude economy was first proposed in the "Outline of the National Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Transportation Network Plan"; in 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference pointed out the need to accelerate the development of new productive forces in the low-altitude economy; currently, statistics show that more than 20 provinces in China have included the development of the low-altitude economy in local government work reports or issued relevant policies, competing to layout the low-altitude economy and hoping to expand new markets relying on new technologies.

Secondly, application-driven factors are an endogenous force for achieving a business closed loop. Passenger services, cargo services, low-altitude security, low-altitude operations, and public security assistance have become the main application scenarios of the low-altitude economy. In Cui Yijun's view, without these business scenarios, the low-altitude economy would not be able to form a closed business model loop, and industrial development would face significant challenges, making this the core of the entire low-altitude economy.

Finally, the comprehensive evolution of multi-dimensional technologies is also one of the important factors driving the development of the low-altitude economy. Cui Yijun stated that technology dimensions are mainly divided into three aspects: First, drone technology. As the mainstay of the low-altitude economy, drones must first achieve lightweight design while continuously improving key technologies such as obstacle avoidance, hovering, fault tolerance, and forced landing; second, new energy technology. On the one hand, it directly affects the flight safety of drones; on the other hand, the three-electric technologies of batteries, electronic controls, and motors are also the core of the rapid development of eVTOL; third, intelligent networking technology, including BeiDou + RTK navigation technology, 5G sensing and communication integration, and AI, which are also crucial for the large-scale development of the low-altitude economy.

5G-A Sensing and Communication Orchestration Leads Low-Altitude Intelligent Networks, Realizing Universal 'Connection' and Easy 'Management'

The demand for network infrastructure in the low-altitude economy is divided into two aspects: low-altitude communication and low-altitude sensing. Low-altitude communication is used for drone image and data transmission, with core requirements of large uplink capacity, continuous coverage, low latency, and high reliability. Low-altitude sensing is mainly for monitoring and servicing cooperative drones, perceiving their positions, altitudes, headings, speeds, etc.; for non-cooperative drones, it is mainly for detection and countermeasures, realizing black flight early warning, emergency handling, and ensuring airspace safety.

Currently, low-altitude networks are not yet perfect in terms of low-altitude communication and sensing technologies. Issues in low-altitude communication mainly include point-to-point communication that does not support non-line-of-sight flights and insufficient low-altitude coverage of 4/5G networks. Issues in sensing include low sensing accuracy and difficulty in continuous networking.

Cui Yijun stated that to solve the above problems, ZTE relies on 5G-A sensing and communication orchestration technology to build low-altitude intelligent networks. 5G-A sensing and communication orchestration technology possesses both communication and sensing capabilities, using the same set of equipment to meet the low-altitude communication and sensing needs of drones, enabling the goal of universal 'connection' and easy 'management' for drones. Compared to traditional technologies, it has advantages such as high accuracy, fast deployment, and easy networking.

In terms of communication technology, ZTE has launched the industry's first self-transmitting and self-receiving 128TR AAU device for low altitudes, supporting a wide angle of 65°, which can better balance the communication needs of both ground and low altitudes, ensuring the stability and reliability of ground and low-altitude communication. In terms of sensing technology, ZTE's 5G-A sensing and communication integration technology introduces dual-waveform intelligent sensing technology of continuous wave and pulse wave for the first time and relies on innovative intelligent metasurface technology to solve the difficult problem of traditional radar equipment balancing long-distance detection and short-distance blind-zone-free performance. In addition, ZTE's 5G-A sensing and communication solution integrates intelligent computing units, combining with the edge computing architecture of communication base stations, to locally complete functions such as trajectory perception, image rendering, and trajectory calculation and depiction, thereby displaying drone trajectories and realizing the digitization and refinement of low-altitude navigation, further improving the safety and efficiency of low-altitude flights.

Building Digital 'Sky Roads' with 5G-A: ZTE Collaborates with Industry Partners to Pursue the Trillion-Dollar Low-Altitude Blue Ocean

Regarding ZTE's future plans in the low-altitude sector, Zhao Zhiyong stated that as an equipment vendor in the information and communication industry, ZTE will focus on sensing and communication integration technology and the resulting integrated sensing and communication network. It can also participate in platform construction, including servers and information services, to empower low-altitude infrastructure construction. On the one hand, it will help extend ground communication networks to low altitudes, starting from base stations, networks, and public navigation, to create a network integrating low-altitude communication, monitoring, and navigation, ensuring the core interest system of the low-altitude economy and collaborating with industry partners to build an ecosystem for low-altitude infrastructure. On the other hand, taking low-altitude safety as the bottom line, it will utilize the sensing capabilities of communication base stations to intelligently sense and identify flight activities in low-altitude airspace such as drones and aircraft, thereby ensuring low-altitude safety.

In recent years, ZTE has made multiple breakthroughs in the field of the low-altitude economy. ZTE has launched the industry's first self-transmitting and self-receiving wide-angle model, supporting a wide angle of 65° and realizing communication and sensing capabilities at an altitude of 600 meters. In addition, ZTE has long been committed to standard promotion, technology research and development, and ecosystem construction for sensing, communication, and intelligent computing integration technology. So far, ZTE has collaborated with operators and third-party partners to complete over 80 low-altitude sensing and communication pilot projects in 25 provinces and cities, covering various application scenarios such as logistics distribution and low-altitude security in key areas.

In Shenzhen, Guangdong, ZTE collaborated with China Mobile to complete a capability verification test for 5G-A sensing and communication integration in low-altitude scenarios at Shenzhen Talent Park, basically covering the entire business of low-altitude sensing scenarios.

In Yanqing, Beijing, ZTE assisted Beijing Mobile and Ruihe Xuanwu in building the industry's first 5G-A sensing and communication integrated low-altitude smart park in the Zhongguancun (Yanqing) Low-Altitude Economy Industrial Park. Meanwhile, the 5G-A sensing and communication integrated base station also integrates sensing capabilities, combining endogenous intelligent AI algorithms to accurately sense and identify low-altitude drones, birds, and other objects, empowering low-altitude security.

In Nanjing, Jiangsu, ZTE assisted the China Telecom Research Institute and Jiangsu Telecom in completing the verification of 5G-A large-scale low-altitude sensing and communication integration networking in Nanjing Binjiang Economic Development Zone.

In Shanghai, ZTE assisted Shanghai Telecom in pioneering the perception capabilities of a new, higher-frequency 5G-A base station on the Huangpu River Channel, realizing the perception of ships and other objects in water and sea areas. Meanwhile, in Shanghai Century Park, ZTE assisted Shanghai Telecom in using the Cluster DRS+ solution to extend ground 5G network coverage to 300 meters in low altitudes, ensuring ultra-stable performance for drone services.

In Anyang, Henan, ZTE collaborated with China Unicom Henan Branch, China Unicom Research Institute, and Yunhuan Technology to successfully complete a 5G-A sensing base station large-scale networking and 20-drone swarm test in the Lantian Laboratory, achieving the ability to simultaneously fly and sense multiple rounds of detection with 20 drones without any missed detections.

In Zhangjiajie, Hunan, ZTE assisted Hunan Mobile and Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport in pioneering the deployment and activation of Hunan's first 5G-A sensing and communication integrated base station, conducting real-time intrusion prevention in airport runway and taxiway areas to prevent potential safety hazards from drones, birds, and other objects to aircraft operations.

In Mount Tai, Shandong, ZTE assisted Shandong Mobile Tai'an Branch in conducting low-altitude economic pilots such as drone waste removal, cargo transportation, and fire prevention inspections in the Mount Tai scenic area using 5G-A sensing and communication integration technology and drones. In addition, multiple 128TR AAU base stations with upgraded performance deployed by ZTE in the Mount Tai scenic area solved the capacity problem in high-density user areas and realized low-altitude drone tracking and positioning, as well as electronic fence security functions.

In Kunming, Yunnan, in the Dongchuan Port Smart Project, ZTE used 5G-A sensing and communication integration technology to effectively monitor a series of physical parameters such as the longitude, latitude, altitude, direction, and speed of objects in any water, land, or air environment and connect the monitoring content to the Dongchuan Port Management Platform to improve port shipping safety and logistics efficiency.

As a typical representative of new productive forces, the low-altitude economy is both a strategic emerging industry and a new engine for future industries. Driven by the trinity of policy, application, and technology, with industrial collaboration and technological innovation, the low-altitude economy is catching the wind and taking off in this vast interconnected world.

On the path of development, ZTE has never stopped. In the future, it will continue to leverage its technology accumulation and innovation in the ICT field to provide solid network support for the development of the low-altitude economy and work with operators and partners to build roads in low altitudes, creating a digital path for the development of the low-altitude economy.