“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, March 28 (Reporter Huang Xinyi) With advances in manufacturing and technology of low-altitude flight equipment such as drones, the low-altitude economy has ushered in a new wave. This year, the words “low-altitude economy” first appeared in the government work report, and will be used as an emerging industry and future industry to build a new growth engine. Among them, eVTOL low-altitude manned aerial vehicles are considered the main form of future low-altitude transportation due to their efficient, convenient, and economical characteristics.

“The end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 are expected to be the starting point for commercial operation of eVTOL. Compared to helicopters, eVTOLs are more economical, about 1/5 to 1/10 the price of a helicopter.” Cheng Tao, Secretary General of the Shenzhen Low Altitude Economy and Industry Association, told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”.

▍ eVTOL commercialization is about to be implemented

The so-called low-altitude economy refers to a comprehensive economic form where civilian manned and unmanned aerial vehicles are the main focus, and are driven by multi-scenario low-altitude flight activities such as manned, cargo, and other operations, and radiation drives the integrated development of related fields. It usually refers to an airspace within a vertical distance of 1000 meters from the ground directly below.

As a pilot unit for low-altitude reform certified by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Dongfang General Aviation has become the largest domestic low-altitude travel platform, built the first Class A elevated airport and home port-level base in Guangzhou and Zhuhai, built the “Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai Sky Corridor” to achieve 25 minute intercity flights between Shenzhen and Guangzhou and 12 minutes between Shenzhen and Zhuhai, and built low altitude infrastructure such as heliports in various important nodes in the Greater Bay Area, operating and managing over 100 domestic heliports.

Xiaopeng flying car parked at Eastern General Aviation Heliport

Cai Wuqun, general manager of the Eastern General Aviation Strategic Planning Department, introduced the three-dimensional transportation system covering drones, eVTOL, helicopters, etc. to the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter.

“The ones below 120 meters are consumer-grade drones. The space of 100-300 meters is reserved for drones used in the industry. Like our helicopters, they fly at an altitude of about 300 meters, and heavy helicopters are about 450 meters. According to current industry estimates, in the future, eVTOL will actually occupy an altitude of about 300 meters after obtaining an airworthiness certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration and applied to the entire operating system. Afterwards, the existing helicopter will be moved up a little further, almost at an altitude of about 600 meters. At that time, a three-dimensional integrated flight system will be formed from top to bottom.”

At present, Ehang Intelligence's unmanned manned aircraft EH216-S has obtained a model certificate and standard airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and has successfully completed its first commercial manned flight demonstration. It is the fastest progressing domestic enterprise.

“From the entire time point, it is expected that in 25 to 26, a large number of domestic eVTOL companies will be able to obtain airworthiness certificates and be equipped with corresponding operating standards. This also means that eVTOL companies are gradually entering the market and operating.” Cai Wuqun mentioned it.

“Once eVTOL is commercialized, flying from Shenzhen to Guangzhou in the future may only cost around 200-300 yuan, but the travel efficiency is several times that of ground transportation systems. For example, from Futian in Shenzhen to Pearl River New Town in Guangzhou, it takes about two and a half hours by car, and it only takes about 25 minutes to fly past, which will greatly improve the timeliness.” Cai Wuqun introduced it.

▍ 5G makes low-altitude flight connections ubiquitous

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter also learned from Eastern General Aviation that the company is exploring practical applications for 5G+ aeromedical rescue, and has completed many practical aeromedical rescue missions with Shenzhen Mobile and Shenzhen University General Hospital. Through “5G+ Beidou” high-precision positioning, its rescue helicopter has achieved real-time transmission and remote real-time guidance for the first time in the industry for the first time in the industry.

During the investigation, the reporter found that Mindray medical equipment equipped with the helicopter has been incorporated into the 5G communication module, which supports hospitalization upon boarding the plane and supports timely remote expert consultation and rescue of patients. In the future, in low-altitude economic applications, all industries need to be encouraged to explore how to effectively utilize 5G and 5G-A network capabilities to maximize greater value.

5G+ aviation medical rescue

As an industrial-grade drone company, it is highly innovative and is exploring the application of “5G+ drones” in the fields of ecological environment protection and emergency response. According to reports, highly innovative drones use dual-link communication. One uploads data to the cloud through a 5G network, and the other is microwave communication between the drone and the airport.

Currently, drones use 5G networks to return high-definition video and flight control data in real time. The network requires a stable network uplink bandwidth of 6 Mbps, covering up to 300 meters at low altitude. For large inspection areas, high mountains and forests, microwave signals are unstable, and 5G has characteristics such as ultra-high bandwidth, low latency, high reliability, wide coverage, and large connectivity, which can better guarantee real-time ultra-high-definition image transmission and remote low-latency management of drones. In the future, 5G-A technology will also help drones perform auxiliary positioning, further improving flight stability and safety.

Highly innovative exploration of the application of 5G+ drones in the fields of ecological environment protection, emergency response, etc.

▍ Low-altitude flight safety supervision system still needs to be improved

However, in order to achieve high-quality development, the low-altitude economy still faces challenges such as lack of communication standards and the need to improve safety supervision systems.

“Since there are many types of aircraft, when flying at low altitudes, they will face several difficult problems. One is that the volume is quite large, especially when the cargo aircraft is flying in densely populated areas within the city. Second, the structure and communication equipment of aircraft produced by different manufacturers are not the same. When these high-capacity, heterogeneous aircraft fly at different altitudes, they require ground support to manage all aspects of the flight state, route, and flight airspace. If not managed, it is extremely easy for security risks to occur.” Cheng Tao said.

There are no uniform ideas and standards on what kind of systems are actually used for infrastructure such as communication, navigation and monitoring systems, and how to communicate between aircraft.

“There are now many solutions, such as 5G-A integrated sensing, low-orbit communication satellites, etc. These technical solutions are all designed to enable airborne aircraft to fly in an orderly and safe manner under digital management.” Cheng Tao said.

Cai Wuqun also pointed out that the biggest challenge is that the entire air supervision service system is still not perfect. “For example, when driving on the ground, there are Gaode and Baidu maps to provide navigation on how to go, and this part of the air is missing. Everyone is improving this part. Whether it's sensing equipment or all kinds of 5G, it's actually all involved.”

The reporter learned that in terms of 5G-A sensing integration, Shenzhen Mobile has completed the construction of several 5G-A base stations based on 4.9 GHz. In the field of low-altitude economy, technical verification of low-altitude infrastructure was carried out through technical capabilities in 5G, 5G-A synesthesia integration, Beidou high-precision positioning, computing power, network security, Hubble 1, and China Mobile Lingyun platforms, etc., to detect information such as the position, speed, and trajectory of drones with a detection surface as small as 0.01 square meters. In the future, 5G-A can not only support real-time data transmission from low-altitude aircraft, but also help make low-altitude aircraft visible, manageable, and controllable, and enhance low-altitude flight safety supervision capabilities.