SK Telecom said that the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency selected it to lead a two-year “Hyper AI Network Infrastructure Establishment” demonstration project through 2027.

The effort is part of a national testbed set to deploy 16 billion won (US$10.7 million) across consortiums led by SK Telecom and KT.

AI-RAN combines radio access network functions and AI computing, allowing 5G base stations to run both communications and AI inference.

The setup is meant to cut latency and power use in devices such as robots and autonomous vehicles.

SK Telecom will compare equipment from Samsung Electronics, HFR, Ericsson, and Nokia.

It will also test quadrupedal patrol robots, autonomous transport vehicles, and low-power modes for humanoids in industrial settings.

The project follows SK Telecom’s earlier AI-RAN trial with Nokia and HFR on Nvidia graphics processing unit-based platforms.

First-year work covers SK Incheon Petrochemical and a Pangyo living lab. Second-year testing will expand to KG Mobility’s Pyeongtaek plant. It planned to use the results in standards discussions, including O-RAN and 3GPP.

🔗 Source: Chosun Daily

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