[TECH Weekly] Autonomous Flight Takes Wing Across Logistics, Defense and UAM... Neontech, Leader in Swarm Drone Control Platforms

The global UAV and UAM industries have entered the stage of autonomous flight powered by physical AI. As a result, autonomous decision-making and control capabilities in complex urban and harsh environments are gaining prominence, and the value of software control platforms is rising relative to aircraft hardware manufacturing technologies.

Amid these changes, Neontech is introduced as a company at the forefront of unmanned aerial platforms, equipped with its own autonomous flight control software and internalized special-purpose aircraft mechanisms. Neontech is presented as a leading company in South Korea's defense and B2G/B2B drone markets.

Founded in 1998, Neontech is a semiconductor, display and ultra-precision electronic component cutting equipment company. It achieved domestic production of Dicing Saw systems and Cut & Sort equipment, and grew on the basis of those localization achievements. In addition, as a specialist in precision control mechatronics, Neontech has accumulated know-how in controlling errors at the micrometer level and possesses ultra-precision hardware and software expertise.

Building on this foundation, Neontech chose the UAV and autonomous drone sectors as its next growth engines. It also carried out a sweeping transformation into the unmanned aircraft and autonomous flight drone fields.

Backed by continuous system-level R&D investment, Neontech has moved beyond simple aircraft assembly. The company developed autonomous flight control software that supports precise positioning in environments with radio interference and GPS jamming, and it also developed a remote control platform. It has also secured a swarm flight control algorithm capable of simultaneously controlling dozens of drones, completing a total solution value chain that spans the broader unmanned aerial mobility ecosystem.

On the strength of that integrated capability, Neontech won a contract under the Ministry of National Defense's drone force buildup project. It also won consecutive demonstration projects in the fire service sector and consecutive demonstration projects in the police sector. It additionally secured consecutive local government logistics demonstration projects, establishing itself as a representative deep-tech software and hardware integration partner in South Korea's unmanned aerial mobility market.

Neontech's core technology is its "AI vision and sensor fusion positioning algorithm." This technology enables precision autonomous flight even in environments where GPS signals are blocked, such as in jamming conditions, among high-rise building canyons and in mountainous areas.

This stands in contrast to conventional general-purpose drones, which rely absolutely on GPS satellite signals. Conventional drones face a risk of crashing when radio interference occurs, and they also have the limitation of losing position control under jamming.

Neontech has equipped its drones with on-device AI-based real-time vision map-matching technology. High-performance vision cameras are mounted on the underside and front of the drone, and the sensor suite consists of IMU, LiDAR and ultrasonic sensors. The collected sensor data are synchronized in microseconds.

Based on this sensor system, Neontech operates a fusion guidance architecture that compares terrain and object data recognized by the aircraft with its internal preloaded map data in real time. Through this, it maintains precise Localization with minimal error margins even in environments without satellite signals.

This structure leads to the ability to move accurately to designated coordinates and carry out missions even in severe weather and radio interference conditions. It then completes autonomous precision landings, demonstrating unmatched control stability.

Neontech's key differentiating technologies are its independently developed swarm drone control software platform, NDRONE, and its multi-mission control architecture. This is what sets it apart from the Chinese low-cost aircraft and simple remote-controlled drones used for comparison, overcoming the longstanding limitation of requiring one operator per drone in existing flight systems. Neontech's technology has completed a horizontal swarm flight mechanism in which a single controller can simultaneously control dozens or more drones through a central algorithm.

NDRONE is a platform that forms real-time Mesh Network communication among swarm aircraft. It is designed so that if a specific aircraft is shot down or malfunctions during flight, the remaining aircraft can reconstruct the flight formation in real time. At that point, the remaining aircraft are operated through autonomous distributed control.

Mission modules are detachably attached to the underside of NDRONE aircraft, and a multi-drop architecture is applied. The mission module types include reconnaissance, jamming, logistics transport and strike. This enables immediate mission switching in the defense sector and at large-scale fire control sites, securing platform dominance in a high-value-added segment.

The NDRONE control platform is equipped with an intelligent mission scheduling algorithm that processes data in real time between the GCS and each individual aircraft in a distributed manner. The algorithm analyzes in real time the high-definition vision data collected by each drone and aircraft status information, including battery level, remaining ammunition/cargo and wind-speed effects. Based on this, it recalculates optimal mission allocation and recalculates return paths to maximize efficiency.

A multi-mission drop architecture has been applied to the underside of the aircraft. It adopts an electronic high-speed Locking mechanism, making it possible to replace modules within seconds without needing to reboot the aircraft's power or main systems. Items that can be swapped include thermal imaging cameras for reconnaissance, cargo pods for logistics drops and strike modules, providing users with flexible interchangeability.

This structure is a key element in operating a unique modular aerial architecture that enables multiple diversified missions to be carried out sequentially on the basis of a single swarm platform. This is also where it differs from many competitors that remain at the level of single-purpose drones.

Along with these technical characteristics, global security concerns are intensifying and unmanned force buildup is spreading, while policies for UAM commercialization are also moving forward. As a result, demand momentum for Neontech's autonomous flight control platform and special-purpose drone projects is accelerating, and the company has entered a steep inflection point.

Orders for defense drone force buildup and the expansion of UAM and logistics infrastructure are also continuing. Neontech has begun work on the Ministry of National Defense's Dronebot combat system project, and it has also begun work on mass-production projects for reconnaissance and attack drones. In addition, it is significantly expanding its supply territory through a logistics delivery project for island regions run by local governments and a project to build a precision disaster control system.

Neontech has stable cash-generation capabilities from its existing equipment business division. On that basis, it is accelerating a transition to a high-profit business structure by building up the share of high-margin swarm flight software license revenue and simultaneously increasing the share of integrated control appliance revenue.

At the same time, it is moving ahead in earnest with the expansion of next-generation UAM traffic management (UTM) platforms and with platform expansion into virtual digital twin-linked control infrastructure. Accordingly, a revaluation of Neontech's corporate value is underway, and the direction of that revaluation is focused on shedding the image of a simple aircraft manufacturer and transforming into a key software company that coordinates the future aerial mobility (AAM) ecosystem.

However, challenges remain for Neontech. With the goal of becoming a global top-tier unmanned aerial platform company, it must reduce dependence on foreign suppliers for core drone hardware components such as motors, ESCs and optical modules, and achieve a complete shift to a domestic supply chain. Raising the localization rate of key components and securing mass-production capability for civil drones are also being raised as challenges.

To respond to price-cutting pressure from the Chinese low-cost aircraft camp in the general civil market, analysis suggests that the countermeasure is to expand the share of high-value-added software licenses specialized for B2G defense and B2B special logistics markets. It is also assessed that the production yield of mass-production aircraft infrastructure needs to be stabilized, and that the global establishment of its proprietary software platform as a standard is necessary. The outlook is that execution capability in pushing ahead with these two tasks simultaneously will be the key to long-term corporate value enhancement.

An official in the aerospace and drone systems sector analyzed that the initiative in the future unmanned aerial and autonomous flight markets lies not in the aircraft frame but in software platforms capable of securing precise positioning even in radio interference environments and autonomously controlling dozens of drones. The official said that Neontech has semiconductor precision control know-how and has completed its AI vision sensor fusion and swarm flight platform, NDRONE. The official added that Neontech is expected to be a direct technological beneficiary of defense unmanned-system expansion and the transition to next-generation UAM autonomous flight.

Source: TECHWORLD · Kim Yong-su
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407976

References

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