At the Urban Air Traffic Operation Demonstration Center of Bao'an District, Shenzhen, the EVTOL aircraft conducted a display flight. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Siqian

  Drone "flash delivery", low-altitude sightseeing, low-altitude intelligent patrol... The booming development of the low-altitude economy is inseparable from the escort of the low-altitude intelligent network. The reporter noticed that many parties are actively exploring and moderately advance the layout of infrastructure such as low-altitude intelligent networking, and accelerating the research and development and construction and application of low-altitude intelligent networking technologies such as 5G/5G-A, Beidou, and satellite Internet. Industry research predicts that by 2035, the number of newly built low-altitude communication base stations is expected to reach 360,000, and the total investment is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan.

  On the synesthesia monitoring platform in Yanqing, Beijing, the flight trajectory of a drone is clearly visible, and the real-time picture of the 4K camera is smoothly transmitted back. A 5G-A synesthesia integrated network not only stabilizes the video transmission rate, but also accurately captures the three-dimensional trajectory of each drone in the area.

  "It's like setting up a dedicated communication corridor for urban sky, which not only avoids competing for network resources with ground users, but also ensures stable networking of low-altitude equipment." Zhao Huaimin, the project leader of Beijing Telecom, told reporters that relying on the innovative "time-frequency-space" three-dimensional collaborative perception algorithm, a 5G base station can track more than 90 mobile targets at the same time, and the positioning accuracy reaches sub-meter level. Through dual-band networking, when the drone flies at an altitude of 300 meters, the network transmission delay is reduced to less than 50 milliseconds, providing guarantees for low-altitude flights "visible, affordable, and controllable".

  In the industry's view, low-altitude intelligent networking is the key support for promoting high-quality development of the low-altitude economy. Research by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that low-altitude intelligent networking uses the integrated world infrastructure including 4G/5G communications, satellite Internet, Beidou system and radar to build a digital low-altitude operating environment and realize intelligent airspace design and route planning.

  "Low-altitude intelligent networking, as the digital base for low-altitude economic development, is a digital guarantee for the openness of airspace and the scale of application. It not only ensures the smooth progress of low-altitude aircraft manned and cargo flight activities, but also ensures efficient supervision and safe operation after the airspace is opened." Lu Feng, director of the Beijing Institute of Frontier Future Science and Technology Industry Development, told reporters that it is necessary to optimize the layout of base stations, build special communication networks, improve navigation facilities, promote the development of synesthesia integrated technology, and promote application innovation.

  It is worth noting that my country is accelerating the construction of low-altitude economic network facilities. The "Report on the Implementation of the National Economic and Social Development Plan in 2024 and the Draft of the National Economic and Social Development Plan in 2025" proposes that in 2025, "policies to promote high-quality development of the low-altitude economy" and "moderately advanced research and layout of low-altitude intelligent networking and other infrastructure" will be made. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently stated that it will continue to increase the coverage of the "dual gigabit" network of 5G and gigabit optical networks; accelerate the promotion of 6G technology research and development, standard formulation, medium-test certification and industrial implementation, and strengthen breakthroughs in the integration of communications, perception, intelligence, and computing.

  Local governments have also taken active actions to clarify the next construction goals. For example, Jiangsu will promote the research and development of low-altitude intelligent networking technologies such as 5G/5G-A, Beidou, and satellite Internet, accelerate the construction of satellite-ground integrated communication networks, and promote the deployment of "cloud-network-edge-end" low-altitude computing power facilities. Dalian will build a smart network for all-area flight routes, and achieve full coverage of low-area flight routes in key areas by 2025, and fully cover more than 50 routes for landing intelligent routes; in 2026, it will gradually achieve continuous coverage of hot flight routes in the city, and continuous coverage of low-area flight routes in the city.

  Aiming at the new low-altitude economic track, the three major operators and other companies are also accelerating the innovation of low-altitude smart connection technology and network construction layout.

  China Mobile recently stated that the digital capability base it has built covers 42 low-altitude routes, deploys more than 500 synesthesia integrated base stations, creates a high-precision positioning network, and serves 130,000 industry drones. The next step will be to build "three networks" of low-altitude communication network, low-altitude navigation network, and low-altitude perception network, give full play to the advantages of 5G-A synesthesia technology, explore multi-modal fusion perception technology, and build strong low-altitude information infrastructure. China Unicom will further explore key technologies such as ultra-low latency, high-precision positioning, and dense perception, and promote integrated innovation in the space, earth and sea.

  "The construction of low-altitude intelligent networking requires a lot of infrastructure investment, including low-altitude communication base stations, perception equipment, navigation facilities, etc. In addition, low-altitude intelligent networking serves various application scenarios such as low-altitude logistics, urban governance, and air traffic. The continuous expansion and large-scale development of these application scenarios will drive the continuous growth of the market demand for low-altitude intelligent networking." Lu Feng said.

  Data shows that as of the end of March this year, my country has built and opened 4.395 million 5G base stations. According to research by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, based on the current number of 5G-A base stations and the future number of 6G base stations, low-altitude communication base stations will be built according to a certain proportion. By 2035, the number of new low-altitude communication base stations is expected to reach 360,000, and the total investment is expected to reach 111 billion yuan. (Reporter Guo Qian)

[Editor in charge: Ran Xiaoning]