By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
With a new application, cell phones could in the future be able to prevent accidents by warning drivers when they are too close to other cars. But its commercialization will be costly and will take some time.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said Friday that it had succeeded in developing sophisticated software based on mobile vehicle-to-vehicle technology.
"This is a futuristic application, which many developed economies are working on," said ETRI official Oh Hyun-seo, who led the research with four domestic software companies.
"The technology is about safety. When automobiles on the road are interconnected to each other, drivers will be equipped with something similar to an early warning system for any dangerous situation."
The mobility-specific technology will allow vehicles on the go to transfer data at a speed faster than 10 Mbps, which is better than many of the country's fixed-line Internet connections.
The state-run ETRI, located in Daejeon, about 150 kilometers south of Seoul, noted that the go-anywhere service could be realized through mobile gadgets such as cell phones in the early stages.
"In the beginning, mobile handsets are likely to offer the next-generation service. Eventually, vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology could be installed in new cars so that they are directly linked without the help of cell phones."
Yet, there remains a major hurdle. In order to enable the mobile device-empowered communications among vehicles - the relevant infrastructure needs to be established.
The cost to build such dedicated facilities across the country could be enormous.
Under a 10-year program through 2017, the administration is upgrading its highway systems. But the establishment of a nationwide network for vehicular only communications is unlikely.
"When most cars have built-in vehicular communication devices, there would be no problem because they can directly reach each other. But that will be a thing of the distant future," Oh said.
"In the short run, cell phone-enabled connections might be the solution. To do this, we can take advantage of conventional cell phone networks here rather than setting up a new one."
The country's three wireless operators have networks for mobile telephony services.
However, Seo said that a lot more research is necessary to come up with a solution using existing mobile networks for vehicular communications.
Currently, the U.S. is ahead of the pack in the technology, dubbed wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE), the global standard that is expected to be the norm in the future.
Experts predict that the associated markets will grow enormously during the second decade of the new millennium.
voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
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