Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
SK Telecom tests AI-RAN to power Korea's digital highway
A conceptual image of SK Telecom's government-backed "Hyper-AI Network Infrastructure" pilot project / Courtesy of SK Telecom
By Jhoo Dong-chan
SK Telecom said it has been selected to carry out a government-backed "Hyper-AI Network Infrastructure" pilot project to build a next-generation "AI-RAN" network — which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize wireless base stations and run computing tasks on cellular hardware — and test three physical AI services under the initiative led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency.
The two-year project supports Korea's "AI Highway" policy initiative, which aims to build ultra-low-latency, highly reliable networks for physical AI such as robots.
AI-RAN refers to networks in which cell towers provide AI computing power in addition to standard communication service, shifting some of a robot's AI processing load onto the network itself.
SK Telecom will build and test AI-RAN equipment from four manufacturers — Samsung Electronics, HFR, Ericsson and Nokia — within a single project, comparing performance across different computing configurations.
Three physical AI services will be demonstrated: a four-legged patrol robot for industrial safety monitoring, an unmanned autonomous transport service using LiDAR sensors and digital-twin technology, and a low-power mode for humanoid robots that offloads AI computation to reduce battery drain.
In the first year, SK Telecom will build AI-RAN networks in Incheon, using Samsung equipment for the patrol robot service at SK Incheon Petrochemical, and in Pangyo, using HFR equipment for the autonomous transport service. The second year will expand testing to KG Mobility's Pyeongtaek plant using Ericsson's technology.
SK Telecom is the only Korean carrier on the board of the global AI-RAN Alliance and was named one of four representative operators among the alliance's 145 members in May.
"We will demonstrate diverse AI-RAN networks and physical AI services," an SK Telecom official said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.