Konkuk Aerospace Design•Airworthiness Research Institute (KADA. Director, Professor Jae Woo Lee from Department of Aerospace Engineering) announced on the 16th that Konkuk University and Korean Air Tech Center has signed a MOU for industrial-academic cooperation on the 9th.
The purpose of the MOU is to promote mutual cooperation between KADA and Korean Air Tech Center by focusing on joint research and technical information exchange in the sector of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Throughout the MOU, the two institutions plan to foster joint research and development of the aerospace industry based on mutual cooperation for cultivation of hands-on experience skills of affiliated researchers.
UAM, one of the core sectors of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is given attention as a new transportation system that can innovatively solve issues regarding future of urban mobility based on eVTOL technology and autonomous flight technology with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Related enterprises and institutions including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Boeing, Uber, Korean Air, Hyundai Motors and Hanwha Systems are showing interests in the establishment and operation of UAM.
In keeping up with these trends, KADA has conducted researches on operation of aerial vehicles, AI-based autonomous flight technology and Digital Twin, a technology that implements reality-like twins in the digital virtual world for unmanned aircrafts and UAM. Under the theme of ‘AI Digital Twin Technology Research for Smart City Air Traffic’ from 2020, it has been selected as a university-focused research center for science and engineering at the Ministry of Education, which will provide 6.7 billion won for a total of three stages until 2029.
Professor Lee said, “The MOU is expected to be a foundation to open up a new era for the core technology development and talent cultivation along with leading domestic and foreign research institutes.”