The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) said Thursday it is pursuing the development of international standards for charging control communications of autonomous mobile machines (AMM), including autonomous driving robots, for the first time in the world.
The standardization initiative marks the first attempt to unify communication specifications between autonomous mobile machines and chargers, which currently vary by manufacturer. At the "Plenary Meeting on Inter-System Communication and Information Exchange" held in Seoul last month, KETI secured final approval for three New Proposals (NP) of international standards related to AMM charging. The proposals were approved with unanimous support from seven major participating countries, including the United States, China, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria, simultaneously demonstrating their technical effectiveness and industrial necessity.
Autonomous mobile machine technologies have been developed separately by application field, leaving no international benchmark for integrated control of multiple devices. As a result, closed structures in which a specific manufacturer's equipment connects only with specific chargers have been cited as obstacles to industrial expansion. The standard KETI is leading for the first time in the world centers on unifying communication systems between different autonomous mobile machines and charging infrastructure. In particular, it goes beyond conventional single-layer approaches by designing an integrated communication structure spanning the physical layer (PHY/MAC), network, and application service layer (ASN), supporting stable device interoperability and efficient energy management in diverse environments such as manufacturing sites and smart city infrastructure.
KETI researchers will play key roles in the international standard development. Four members — Park Yong-ju, team leader of the Smart Network Research Center; researchers Kim Yoon-tae and Yoo Je-wook; and Lim Seung-ok, head of the Gwangju regional headquarters — have been selected as international standard editors to oversee the project. They will be responsible for the entire process of completing the standard proposals, including drafting technical documents and coordinating opinions among countries. It is significant that Korean researchers stand at the center of standard development.
The achievement represents a successful case of linking technology recognized as an outstanding standard by the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of Korea to internationalization. KETI has led a model in which Korean technology can become the global market benchmark through a strategy of securing reliability through domestic standardization before expanding to international standards.
"By preempting global common specifications, we will do our best to help Korean companies secure leadership in the autonomous mobile machine market," said Park Yong-ju, head of KETI's Mobility Convergence Team.
