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reporter | dong yuqing

edited by yang ruiqi and liu yukun

phoenix technology news: on september 19, the "2024 first low-altitude economy innovation leadership conference" was held in fengtai, beijing. xiang jinwu, chief scientist of the beijing low-altitude economy industry development alliance and academician of the chinese academy of engineering, gave a keynote speech at the conference.

he said that the low-altitude economy has gone through the early application exploration stage and the standardized development stage. with the development of drones, beidou navigation, 5g communications, and artificial intelligence technology, it has entered a stage of further application and popularization. 2024 is the first year of the development of the low-altitude economy.

it was disclosed that in 2023, the scale of my country's low-altitude economy has reached 505.95 billion yuan, an increase of 33.8% compared with 2022, and is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2026.

at the same time, xiang jinwu believes that the current unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (evtol) and low-altitude intelligent network are important growth poles for the low-altitude economic industry. "when we develop the low-altitude economy, we must vigorously develop the intelligent low-altitude economy of building sky roads, building sky networks, and building sky cranes. just like when we were engaged in the automobile industry, we used to say 'to get rich, we must first build roads'. now, to develop the low-altitude economy, we must first build roads, and then form a network with roads, and then rely on the low-altitude intelligent network to carry out flight activities, so that you can be guaranteed."

it is understood that the first low-altitude economy innovation leadership conference is themed "phoenix yufeng leading low-altitude intelligence" and is co-organized by the beijing low-altitude economy industry development alliance and phoenix.com. the conference brings together top experts and scholars to discuss industry development trends, release the latest innovative achievements, and draw a new picture of low-altitude applications through in-depth exchanges on cutting-edge science and technology.

the following is the full text of the speech by xiang jinwu, chief scientist of the beijing low-altitude economic industry development alliance and academician of the chinese academy of engineering:

dear academician zhijie, leaders, experts, and friends:

good morning, everyone! i am very happy to have this opportunity to report to you. the topic of my report today is "low-altitude uav system technology and development", from three aspects: one is the development trend, the second is the system technology, and the third is the development measures.

1. development trend

everyone feels that the low-altitude economy is becoming more and more popular. just now, the host also introduced that 2024 is the first year for the development of the low-altitude economy. last year's central economic work conference and this year's government work report both pointed out that we should actively create new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy.

on january 1 this year, the state council and the central military commission jointly issued the "interim regulations on unmanned aerial vehicle flight management", which solved the problems of how to fly and how to manage.

last year, on october 10, the ministry of industry and information technology, the ministry of science and technology, the ministry of finance, the civil aviation administration and other four departments also issued the "green aviation manufacturing development outline (2023-2035)", which has become the industry's supervision, air transport management, scientific and technological research, transportation planning and other fields to jointly promote the future urban and inter-urban aircraft upgrades. we must seize the opportunity of aviation transformation.

on march 27 this year, the ministry of industry and information technology, the ministry of science and technology, the ministry of finance, and the civil aviation administration of china jointly issued the "implementation plan for innovation and application of general aviation equipment (2024-2030)", which clearly proposed to develop the general aviation manufacturing industry and accelerate the innovation and application of general aviation equipment.

in short, by 2027, the first is that the general aviation public service equipment system should be basically completed. the second is to realize commercial application of new general aviation equipment with unmanned, electric and intelligent technical features, form more than 20 replicable and popularizable typical application demonstrations, and build a number of low-altitude economic application demonstration bases.

our country has also issued the three certification standards for unmanned aerial vehicles.it is the standard airworthiness certificate, production license, and type certificate.it can be said that these have provided strong support for promoting innovation in drone technology, improving safety, promoting international cooperation, and promoting the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy.

the connotation and characteristics of low-altitude economy, we generally talk about military aviation and civil aviation. civil aviation refers to all aviation activities other than national aviation activities such as national defense. civil aviation also includes general aviation and medical aviation. general aviation is the use of civil aircraft to engage in civil aviation activities other than public air transportation, such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, aircraft seeding, aerial fertilization, medical rescue, urban firefighting, geological exploration in flight operations. there are also commercial flights, such as private flights, tourism and flight training, which belong to commercial flights. general aviation is one of the two wings of the civil aviation field and is widely applicable to all areas of our social life.

the low-altitude economy is mainly a comprehensive economy that is driven by various low-altitude flight activities and radiates to promote the integrated development of related fields. it has the characteristics of three-dimensionality, regionality, integration and extensiveness.

in particular, it relies on the airspace of 1,000 meters, and in some places it can be expanded to below 3,000 meters, where manned and unmanned aircraft flight activities are carried out relying on the low-altitude intelligent network.

the main feature of the low-altitude economy is that it is based on the general aviation industry and is led by the drone industry. it should be said that this is the main connotation of the low-altitude economy.because we are talking about low-altitude economy, in fact, more than ten years ago, we also said that we should develop the general aviation industry, but at that time, the general aviation industry was mainly manned like the united states and brazil. everyone knows that it is very expensive to train a pilot, and to maintain your pilot license, you must fly a certain number of times every year. unlike a car driver's license, you can get a car driver's license and not drive for ten years, but the license is still valid. therefore, it is a bit far from the daily life of ordinary people, but it is still necessary in some specific industries, such as large-scale medical rescue and emergency rescue, which still need to be done with large aircraft and helicopters.

it can be said that the low-altitude economy has gone through the early application exploration stage and the standardized development stage. with the development of drones, beidou navigation, 5g communications, and artificial intelligence technology, it has entered the stage of further application and popularization.

at the end of the 18th century, hot air balloon technology was successfully experimented in paris, france. at that time, hot air balloons were used for sightseeing activities, including the main torch that you saw at this year's olympic games.

in 1980, the japanese company sunshine used remote-controlled helicopters to carry out agricultural operations in the agricultural field.

in 2006, british petroleum used drones to monitor offshore oil platforms. as we all know, offshore oil exploration platforms are usually more than 10 or 20 stories high, and are easily corroded or damaged in the marine environment. it is difficult to send people to inspect them, so they use drones for status monitoring. with the development of information technology, especially computer technology, unmanned equipment has developed from mechanization to automation, intelligence, and unmanned. it should be said that various activities using drones for low-altitude economic activities are becoming more and more popular, and it should be said that low-altitude economy has entered a stage of further application and popularization.

last year, the scale of my country's low-altitude economy reached 505.95 billion yuan, an increase of 33.8% compared with 2022, and is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2026. it mainly includes low-altitude production of drones, traditional general aviation, and flying car general aviation services, etc. it is a comprehensive economic form with coordinated development in multiple fields. the industrial input ratio of general aviation is generally 1:10, and the employment-driven ratio is 1:12. it should be said that it has high technological content, concentrated innovation factors, and has distinct characteristics of new quality productivity.

at present, the low-altitude economy will rely on the low-altitude intelligent network and airspace, with drones as the leading force, and the integrated development of the "five networks" of facility network, air and land network, communication network, management network, and service network. the unmanned, electrified, intelligent, and networked equipment are its main characteristics and development trends. for example, the low-altitude economy generally includes its manufacturing, which is to provide aircraft and other products for low-altitude flight activities, and flight. the core industries of the low-altitude economy play a leading and driving role. in addition, it is necessary to ensure the flight of the low-altitude economy, the safety of the airspace, and some related industries to ensure it.in addition, there are various service industries that support and assist the development of the low-altitude economy.

at present, unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (evtol) and low-altitude intelligent network should be said to be important growth poles of the low-altitude economy industry, and are the three major technical industrial equipment of the low-altitude economy at present and in the future. i also put evtol in that category, because although there is no one in the drone, evtol needs to be seated. now evtol sometimes requires a driver, but in the future development, i think evtol must also be unmanned. this is one of its main pillars, so when we develop the low-altitude economy, we must vigorously develop the intelligent low-altitude economy of building sky roads, building sky networks, and building sky cranes. just like when we are engaged in the automobile industry, it was originally said that "to get rich, we must first build roads". now to develop the low-altitude economy, we must first build roads, and then form a network with roads, and then rely on the low-altitude intelligent network to carry out flight activities, so that you can be guaranteed.

typical application scenarios. it should be said that the application scenarios of "drone +" are quite rich, which can generally be divided into three categories: production operations, public services and aviation consumption. the application in the fields of low-altitude logistics, agricultural and forestry plant protection, air express, urban services, emergency rescue, etc. is advancing rapidly. it is said that the number of drones registered nationwide in the first half of this year is equivalent to more than 800,000 units, and there were more than 1.6 million units originally. it should be said that the role of drones in the low-altitude economy is becoming more and more extensive and more and more popular. a typical application scenario includes advanced drone technology in urban transportation, combined with traffic big data, and the use of digital fusion technology to develop unmanned evtol. this will become an important means to improve efficiency and reduce congestion. that is, unmanned evtol should be said to be an important component (part) of the urban transportation system.

what is the logic behind its development?one is everyone's travel needs. the demand for electric transportation has never been met, which is fast and saves money. the second is the pain point in the industry. the cost of ground transportation infrastructure construction is getting higher and higher, and it takes longer and longer. you need to build overpasses and expressways, which involves a lot of demolitions and many infrastructure issues.

development potential, just like there are subways underground and expressways on the ground in the city, we need to develop into the air, that is, three-dimensional transportation. if we build a digital city and a digital earth, this route only needs digital construction and management, because the sky road above has infinite possibilities. therefore, it will become a transportation that can be quickly predicted in the future.

in the near future, we want to increase the flight time of evtol from the current tens of minutes to more than one hour, and the range will be more than 100 kilometers, which will be very useful.

in the future, if the flight time is extended and the range is improved, it will be as convenient as our current shared bicycles. in the future, when traveling, for example, you can take the high-speed rail or civil aviation plane from beijing to shanghai, and when you arrive in shanghai, you can use our shared evtol to travel, just like sharing bicycles. unmanned evtol should be said to be an important part of the future transportation system.

the air transport ecology of unmanned logistics, which is mainly based on small multi-rotor drones, will form a new means of logistics transportation for the last 10 kilometers. for example, now express delivery is required to be delivered to every household, and the courier brother has to go to every household, which takes time. in the future, for example, the courier brother will drag the express delivery to the community by car, and then use a small drone to deliver it to the windowsill of every household. isn't that very convenient? therefore, the courier brother sometimes said, "teacher, is it like self-driving cars that eliminate taxis?" i said: we are not eliminating the courier brother's delivery of express delivery, we are providing a means for the courier brother to transport goods. in addition, in places where transportation is not well developed on the western edge, fixed-wing drones can be used as the main force, with provincial command and control centers as the core and county, district and township distribution centers as branches to build a national aviation unmanned transportation network in remote areas, so as to improve its overall transportation efficiency.

in addition, we need to develop dedicated unmanned transport aircraft and transform existing transport aircraft. our team is currently developing a driving robot for manned helicopters. you can put the robot in the driver's seat to fly the helicopter, and you can pull it away when you don't need it. in the future, a new way of unmanned transportation will be formed, and an unmanned air transportation network will be built. eventually, when conditions are ripe, the entire civil aviation passenger transport will also be unmanned. it should be said that the sky will become busy.

2. system technology

the standard definition of drones is that they are unmanned aerial vehicles that are powered by airborne power, radio-controlled or autonomous. generally speaking, a drone is definitely a system, which includes a flight platform, measurement and control, information transmission, and mission payload. our shenzhou spacecraft, chang'e, and tianwen mars exploration system are basically the same as this system, and all include these main parts.

it is the same when we fly kites in our daily lives. the kite is our aircraft platform, the kite string and the person flying the kite are the special control information transmission system, and the flashing lights inside the kite are like the mission payload below. the comprehensive support is the small trailer for flying the kite, which may have string reels, scissors, and other repair tools inside.

the measurement, control and information transmission of dedicated drones are done specially. why is it based on 5g network this time? the cost of dedicated measurement, control and information transmission systems is quite high. now with the 5g technology, measurement, control and information transmission technology will be replaced by the network.the aircraft platform includes its aerodynamic layout, structural design, energy and power, and flight control. measurement, control and information transmission mainly include telemetry, remote control, tracking and positioning, and information transmission. the mission payload is to observe and deliver.

basically, we classify drones according to the mechanism of lift generation. generally, there are fixed-wing and rotary-wing drones. there is also a kind of airship, which is a kind of scattered-wing drone. there is also a flapping-wing drone, which flaps like a bird. there is also an electric-mode drone system. what is this concept? the helicopter mode is used for takeoff and landing, and the fixed-wing drone is used for level flight. it involves the conversion of modes.

the uses are either for observation, such as civilian aerial photography, surveying and mapping, and delivery; or for delivery, such as couriers and bomb dropping, which all fall into the delivery category.

the development of drones is just like the development of airplanes. the airplane was invented by the wright brothers in 1903. in fact, radio-controlled airplanes appeared in 1917. in the 1950s, with the emergence of surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles, target drones had to be developed for verification. it was impossible to use manned aircraft to test this thing, as it was too dangerous. therefore, an unmanned target drone was built for testing.

in the 1960s, especially when the us military invaded vietnam, they installed a camera on the target drone, just like the old film-developing camera. it would fly over and come back to develop the film. when developing the film, it would look at the target inside. the timeliness of this camera is not like the current digital cameras, which are digital and real-time.

in the 1980s, with the development of computer technology, as computers became smaller and smaller in size, weight, power consumption and performance, they could be installed on airplanes. as a result, various types of drones emerged one after another, and drones also expanded from the military field to the civilian and consumer fields.

fixed-wing layout: the size, weight, and flight time of fixed-wing aircraft range greatly, and there are many types.it can be as small as a bee or as large as a wingspan of tens or hundreds of meters. this involves various new materials, processes, energy sources, etc. the wingspan of the left one may be hundreds of meters. it is solar-powered and can replace communication base stations. especially in disaster situations, when the ground base station is broken, it can be put on to communicate. it can fly in the sky for a month or more than half a year.

there is also a rotor type, which features the ability to rotate and stop, vertical takeoff and landing, and good maneuverability. the typical type is a single rotor with a tail rotor, which has a propeller and a tail rotor. of course, this requires very high aerodynamics and power. when we develop the low-altitude economy and civilian drones, we lower the difficulty and turn it into a multi-rotor type, which is driven by electricity. this can reduce the difficulty and improve its reliability, making it more convenient to use. however, the disadvantage is that its maneuverability and wind resistance are not as strong as traditional helicopters.

in addition, the composite layout uses a helicopter for takeoff and landing, and a fixed-wing for level flight. it can combine the advantages of various layouts to take into account different flight state requirements. the difficulties lie in the two aspects involving mode transformation and control. however, it should be said that the development of control technology has basically solved these problems.

the layout of evtol includes multi-rotor, composite wing, and tilt-rotor. each has its own characteristics. for example, multi-rotor has lower technical difficulty and higher hovering efficiency, but its disadvantages are short range and low speed. composite wing has higher flight resistance and moderate technical difficulty, but the flight control is more difficult. tilt-rotor is fast and has a long endurance, but the flight control design is relatively difficult. as we all know, when the us military was stationed in okinawa, they used tilt-rotors, which could easily fall on the heads of ordinary people.at present, it can be said that control technology can basically solve it.

the problem with the layout is to provide large lift and small drag, because aerodynamic drag is the main source of energy consumption. an efficient aerodynamic layout design can reduce the aerodynamic interference between the propeller and the fuselage to improve its endurance and safety.

structure.traditional aircraft are made of aluminum alloy or carbon fiber composite materials, while today's cost-effective drones are made of high-strength plastic or fiberglass. of course, the ultimate development will definitely be towards intelligent material structures, that is, adding sensors to the composite material structure to monitor the entire structure to see if it is broken or has reached the end of its life.

control.the flight mission is mainly completed by stabilizing and controlling the attitude and linear motion of the drone. generally, there are manual control and automatic control. for example, earlier model aircraft were basically remote controlled. currently, most drones are vertically controlled, which is related to automatic navigation technology and automatic control technology.

energy and powerthis is the biggest pain point in the development of aviation. most drones use conventional power or jet power. most of our current multi-rotor or civilian drones are powered by new energy, that is, electric. however, electric drones inevitably have the problem of improving their endurance. if this problem can be solved, many low-altitude aircraft will have greater development potential. therefore, in this regard, how to improve new energy power, that is, the endurance of electric vehicles, and improve its energy density is the most critical aspect.

measurement and control.one is telemetry, which is to check the flight status and equipment status parameters, and the other is remote control, which is the flight status of the drone and the status control of the equipment. most drones are now program-controlled, and the program is installed before the flight. remote control, when we need to change during the flight, you can send a command to correct its original scheduled task. another is information transmission, how to ensure high reliability and high-speed relay transmission technology. in addition, we hope to have an ultra-wideband data link. in addition, it is best to have low air consumption, light weight, and long transmission distance.

load technology.one is to look at the optoelectronic platform, including tilting cameras and lidar, etc., and the payload of projection and control. the most common one we see is the spreading of pesticides, and the other is express delivery. it is possible to develop a special design based on its application scenario.

at present, drone systems are facing challenges in technology integration, flight safety, industry supervision, and multi-field cooperation. one is the platform. if there is no one on board, it is easier to say. now we are developing evtol with people on board, and its reliability and stability are relatively high. in addition, its intelligence and efficiency pose more challenges than before. in addition, the management of safe flight, including product certification, security encryption, efficient configuration, etc. as well as the communication system and navigation system, the latency should be small, the navigation supervision should be high, the path planning should be required, and the autonomous navigation should be convenient. in addition, there is the mission payload, such as miniaturization, lightweight, modular design, and the ability to network transmission and data processing. these aspects should be said to have a lot of room for development.

in the future, drones or low-altitude economic flights will need to realize flight control sensor management and maintenance, which is an integrated quality control model. one is networked infrastructure, realizing the networking of take-off and landing fields, airspace, communications, navigation, surveillance, meteorology, intelligence and other facilities, and improving the service capabilities of air-ground information integration. the second is to improve the ability of fine allocation and dynamic management of urban low-altitude airspace. in addition, flight control must be intelligent, and the solids of low-altitude aircraft must be able to be intelligently controlled to improve the ability of drones to autonomously compare and select. in addition, active risk prevention and control is also required to improve the ability of drones to automatically identify and actively prevent risks. in particular, for evtols that will be operated in cities in the future, how can they safely and effectively reach the preset point when colliding and avoid obstacles below? active risk prevention and control is required. in addition, there is collaborative operation supervision, and collaborative control mechanisms and technologies between drones and manned aircraft to improve the overall guarantee capability.

iii. development measures

1. as a type of helicopter with low-altitude economy, we still need to rely on policy guidance to stimulate helicopters, optimize the policy environment, and regulate industry development.we need to formulate relevant laws and regulations to ensure the safety of low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle equipment, and to ensure air traffic management and flight permits. it should be said that various laws and regulations are being steadily developed and promoted. the construction of policies and regulations and some improvements in safety specifications are far away. we cannot wait until these regulations are in place before we start to do things. we should develop and build at the same time. as we all know, there were problems when cars were put on the road in 1865, which was more than 100 years ago. originally, there had to be three people on the road, one was the driver, the other was the co-pilot, and there were chess pieces 50 feet in front. originally, cars could only run in the manor and could not go on the road. there was a speed limit on the road, which was 3 miles in the manor and 6 miles on the road. after more than 100 years, cars have now developed to a state where everyone has one. similarly, the conditions for low-altitude economic and low-altitude drones are much better than more than 100 years ago, everyone's awareness has also improved, and the technology has also developed considerably. therefore, i believe that soon our sky will be able to ensure the flight safety of the entire low-altitude economic drone.

2. focus on industrial transformation and promote industry-university-research-application cooperation. it is necessary to establish a complete innovation ecosystem, including innovation incubators, technology enterprise incubation bases, etc.the fengtai district government is doing this now. this is a very good thing. it can concentrate the forces from all aspects, innovate the ecology of the low-altitude economy, and promote the development of the low-altitude economy. i think it is very useful and helpful.

3. increase investment and improve low-altitude smart new infrastructure. with the government as the leader, clarify the overall goals and plans for the construction of low-altitude smart infrastructure, and promote the establishment of a unified and standardized low-altitude infrastructure and a sharing and integration mechanism.we should encourage cooperation and coordination between different departments and units to improve the efficiency of facility utilization and reduce operating costs. the low-altitude economy mainly consists of manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft, which rely on the low-altitude intelligent network for operation. the low-altitude intelligent network must be built by the government. it is impossible for a manufacturer to build one, otherwise it will not be able to develop. therefore, the construction of low-altitude intelligent integrated infrastructure is the core and basic guarantee for the high-quality development of the low-altitude economy. this must be led by a department and a government to do a good job in related work, that is, to focus on (building) the "five-network integration" of infrastructure network, space route network, communication and navigation network, airspace management network, and low-altitude service network to escort the safe flight of low-altitude aircraft. one is the infrastructure network. the infrastructure network must have high reliability and strong connection capabilities; in addition, it must be expandable, and the air route network must be safe and efficient; the airspace management network must have strong route coordination capabilities and high airspace allocation efficiency; the communication and navigation network positioning accuracy, coverage, low-altitude speed, resource sharing, and information interconnection must continuously improve the user experience. these five networks are managed by different departments. for example, the infrastructure network may be related to urban construction, the airspace route network may be related to the airspace management department, the communication and navigation network is related to our telecommunications department, and the service management network may be related to the department that puts forward service requirements. therefore, how to achieve integrated development is something we must consider, and we may also have to do a good job of related work under the leadership of a certain department. only in this way can we open a new chapter in the development of the low-altitude economy of "repairing the sky road, building the sky road, and building the sky crane".

innovation driven.cutting-edge technology drives development. high-tech should develop in coordination with basic science and be deeply integrated. we should give full play to the role of discipline development in basic research related to low-altitude economy, consolidate the foundation of the field, support technological development, explore the forefront of science and technology, and create a new growth engine for low-altitude economy. it should be said that after decades of development, the entire aviation technology, including drone technology, has solved some basic problems, but we must keep pace with the times and pay special attention to the new generation of information technology, new material technology, advanced manufacturing technology, and current intelligent control technology. in this way, we can promote the further development and upgrading of aircraft or drone technology.

the research and development of smart general aviation equipment not only faces many technical challenges, but also affects traditional transportation methods and urban planning. it requires cutting-edge scientific and technological support to achieve complex functions and performance requirements. this includes materials, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. for example, most of the current low-altitude drones are electric, and the demand for power and high-energy-density batteries is quite urgent. these must be vigorously developed.

low-altitude general aviation equipment needs intelligent system support during flight, and low-altitude traffic network needs the support of the internet. we need to further develop advanced communication and navigation technology, as well as perception and decision-making technology in complex meteorological environments, to inject momentum into the development of the low-altitude economy. this includes perception of complex environments, intelligent decision-making, 5g communications, and big data technology, which will inject new vitality and vigor into the high-end, intelligent, green and high-quality development of the entire general aviation industry.

in addition, low-altitude economy or low-altitude general aviation involves a large amount of data collection, transmission and processing. it is necessary to strengthen data security and protection, establish a data security management system, and take effective encryption and protection measures to prevent data leakage and abuse. just like the courier brother who delivered the express to your windowsill, the drone may have a camera that can see the internal situation of each household. how to protect this information? how to ensure the safety of unmanned driving or evtol, which will be used for urban transportation in the future, these aspects must be paid attention to. because only under the premise of ensuring safety can you make an industry develop quickly and well. if you leave safety, the entire industry will have problems.

the above are some of my immature views. if there are any mistakes, please criticize and correct me. thank you!