ETRI and government funded research institutes have been making efforts to prevent sinkholes. The UGS Convergence Research Department has decided to introduce loT technologies that can detect, predict, and respond to abnormal signs in advance by supervising underground utilities buried in underground space of the city as well as railway structures and the adjacent soil environment, and by continuously monitoring the ground water distribution and changes in the distribution.

ETRI won the Best Paper Award by IEEE, one of the world’s most prestigious societies of broadcasting communications, with a paper on key UHD TV technologies, transmission and video compression technologies. The paper is the outcome of research on Layerde Division Multiplexing (LDM) and Scalable High efficiency Video Coding (SHVC), which are technologies to provide UHD and movable HD broadcasting services through one terrestrial broadcasting channel.

To take the initiative in standardization of 5G mobile telecommunications, ETRI reflects the technological environment in an IMT-2020 assessment document, which contains assessment procedures of 5G (generation) candidate technologies of the International Telecommunication Union or ITU. The ITU assessment document is a report that determines assessment criteria among countries in regards to 5G mobile telecommunications technology. The technologies developed by ETRI were reflected in the document, meaning that they are virtually applied to 5G standardization, and it is expected that ETRI’s technologies can be approved as 5G technologies.

ETRI researchers have developed a new concept of a cyber security technology in which a system targeted by a cyber attack prevents hacking attacks by transforming exposed information to disrupt hackers. Under the existing cyber security system, there are some difficulties to respond to attacks as the response requires finding the weaknesses of the individual targeted system one by one. In addition, national critical infrastructure or ICT infrastructure can be easily crippled once a hacker finds just one weakness of the target. In contrast, active cyber self-defense technology can defend itself from cyber hacking attacks as it can transform network addresses, SW or data by itself.

With the advent of the open paradigm, the influence of open sources is growing and spreading across the ICT sectors. Linux and Android are among the representative open source software. With respect to the recent trend, ETRI has established an open source center dedicated to responding to and supporting all the activities related to open sources. The center is expected to develop into a professional open source organization, and ultimately will promote R&D innovation that will lead the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Hanbyul ENC, a Korean screen door manufacturer, successfully won a business contract for the export of subway screen doors to Brazil. ETRI has paid attention to technical hardships that the firm was facing, and actively provided technical support and drove the success of the firm together with the Korea Railroad Research Institute. ETRI worked together with RTst, a research institute spin-off company, in providing the screen door manufacturer with its SW platform, which has high reliability and satisfies international functional safety standards for a screen door control system.

ETRI signed a business agreement with Daejeon Metropolitan City, aiming to nurture an advanced automobile business and to lead the unmanned autonomous vehicle era. Under the agreement, ETRI and the city will establish a cooperation system in the following areas necessary for unmanned autonomous vehicle pilot business: 1) consulting about information technology and utilizing it for research; 2) establishing testbed businesses; 3) finding business opportunities to exchange human and technology resources; and 4) implementing an advanced transportation system converged with ICT.

ETRI held a technology exhibition and briefing session about technology transfer of 14 technologies in three sectors: loT, content, and broadcasting media. The exhibition and the briefing session were organized to promote broad technological exchanges between the Hyperconnected Communication Research Institution (Busan Joint research center) and the business sector of ETRI, and Busan Metropolitan City, as well as to increase business opportunities of small and medium-sized businesses in Busan.

Jung Chan Na, a head of an ETRI group, won the Honorable Prize at Information Security Leadership Achievement or ISLA Award, which confers the award to the person who makes the biggest achievement among security experts in the Asia-Pacific area every year. The ISLA Award is a venue that reminds us of the dedication and leadership that so many cyber security experts have been showing in fighting against current cyber threats and making the virtual world safer.