Jeju Special Self-Governing Province became the final winner for the "2023 Drone Demonstration City Construction Project" competition hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology. The Province will set out to build globally advanced drones and establish an aviation infrastructure city.

Through this project, Jeju Province will demonstrate the operation of a real-time drone identification system in the control zone of Jeju International Airport and a customized drone logistics delivery service for remote island areas.

Since 2019, Jeju has constantly been exploring drone demonstration and commercialization services. It was selected as the first drone demonstration city in Korea for two consecutive years, designated as the nation's largest drone special zone, and was designated as an excellent local government.

Specifically, the plan is to secure the safety of manned aircraft by installing identification devices on drones flying within the control zone of Jeju International Airport, which ranks first in domestic passenger traffic, and monitoring their navigation in real-time.

Moreover, it aims to build a safe aviation infrastructure for drones and urban air mobility (UAM) by expanding the scope to the entire Jeju Province, including public-purpose drones operated in the Province.

In particular, this drone identification device is an ultra-small (60g or less), an independent device that can be mounted on various types of drones for universality. It also features the capability to prevent forgery and tampering through blockchain technology.

The drone logistics service, customized for remote island areas, aims to commercialize drone logistics services by demonstrating regular delivery of heavyweight couriers, direct delivery of emergency couriers, and reverse delivery of specialty products between Unjin Port and Gapado Island.

Drones for heavyweight delivery have been certified for safety by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and are equipped with parachutes to enhance safety.

In addition, the qualification for drone delivery will be acquired by registering as a "drone delivery ultralight aircraft user," and, through the participation of experts in fields such as logistics, air traffic, and aviation safety, commercialization of the drone logistics system will be investigated to open a full-fledged era of drone logistics.

Moreover, to solve practical problems caused by the aging of haenyeo, the project will also promote the demonstration of drone transportation support for haenyeo's catches with heavyweight courier drones.