Testing Things
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) announced the results of the competition for the convergence test-bed project of the Internet of Things (IoT) as a follow-up of the K-ICT policy.
The MSIP announced on May 10 that the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute consortium, the National Security Research Institute consortium, the academic-industrial cooperation group consortium of the Catholic University of Korea, and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute consortium were all selected as preferred bidders for the competition. A total of 8 consortia competed last month in the four fields of electronics, energy, health and medical services, and autos.
After cooperating and coordinating different opinions as to details, the selected consortia are planning to start their test-bed project in mid-May, which will last until 2018. The National Information Society Agency will supervise the whole process.
The MSIP is planning to make this year the first year of the revitalization of the IoT and to bring about a boom in the IoT by proceeding with convergence test-bed projects of promising services, in addition to the creation of the IoT test-bed research complex.
By area, the open-source home IoT test-bed project is to develop common elements for a platform, or Application Programming Interface (API), aimed at securing compatibility between various kinds of electronic goods like TVs or refrigerators. The common elements for the platform are going to be open to all companies, and hindrance factors in the home IoT field stemming from a lack of compatibility are expected to be removed as a result.
The aftercare testbed project for severely ill patients will help people suffering from cancer or heart disease rehabilitate themselves at home and manage their own health, after being discharged from the hospital. Services that provide information analyzing big data for customized medical treatments are going to be developed and offered to medical staff. Their effectiveness will be verified by undergoing clinical trials targeting 1,000 patents.