The relationship between the low-altitude economy and new productive forces can be elaborated from multiple aspects, including the potential of the low-altitude economy as a new productive force, the importance of new infrastructure, and the air traffic control and communication systems that align with information innovation.
1. Is the Low-Altitude Economy a New Productive Force?
The Potential of the Low-Altitude Economy as a New Productive Force
The low-altitude economy encompasses multiple fields such as drones, general aviation, and low-altitude airspace development, possessing tremendous economic potential. Its emergence as a new productive force is reflected in:
- Innovation-Driven: The low-altitude economy relies on high technology, such as advanced aircraft design, automated control systems, and data processing technologies.
- Efficiency Improvement: Drones exhibit significant efficiency advantages in logistics, agriculture, and security, markedly enhancing production and service efficiency.
- Industrial Integration: The low-altitude economy can deeply integrate with multiple traditional industries, promoting industrial upgrades and the formation of new business models.
The Importance of New Infrastructure
To enable the low-altitude economy to become a new productive force, it must rely on the construction of new infrastructure, specifically including:
- 5G Networks: Supporting high-speed, low-latency communication needs, ensuring real-time control and data transmission for drones and low-altitude aircraft.
- Satellite Navigation: Providing precise positioning and navigation services to ensure the safety and efficiency of low-altitude flights.
- Intelligent Infrastructure: Including intelligent monitoring systems and data analysis platforms that support airspace management and traffic optimization.
Air Traffic Control and Communication Systems Compliant with Information Innovation
The characteristics of information innovation in the air traffic control and communication systems within new infrastructure are crucial:
- Autonomous Control: Ensuring the autonomous control of key technologies and equipment, which is an essential component of new infrastructure.
- Digital Transformation: By building intelligent collaborative decision-making platforms, enhancing coordination with various civil aviation entities, and sharing production and operational data, collaborative innovation applications can be realized.
The relationship between the low-altitude economy and new productive forces can be understood as an interdependent and mutually reinforcing relationship. For the low-altitude economy to truly become a new productive force, it needs to rely on the development of new infrastructure, while new infrastructure requires the support of air traffic control and communication systems that comply with information innovation. This relationship is reflected not only in technology and infrastructure but also in policy and market support.
2. In Which Specific Areas Does the Low-Altitude Economy Show the Greatest Economic Potential?
The low-altitude economy demonstrates significant economic potential in several specific areas, particularly in logistics, tourism, agriculture, firefighting, and urban management. For example, in the logistics sector, low-altitude logistics utilizes drones or unmanned aerial vehicles for cargo transport, offering advantages such as speed, low cost, and high flexibility, especially suitable for delivering goods to remote areas. In tourism, the low-altitude economy is expected to become a new growth point by providing aerial sightseeing services to attract visitors. In agriculture, applications such as drone spraying of pesticides and monitoring crop growth improve agricultural production efficiency. In firefighting and rescue operations, drones are used for tasks such as forest fire prevention, enhancing emergency response speed. Additionally, urban management is exploring applications of the low-altitude economy in areas such as infrastructure inspection and traffic management.
The list of typical cases and opportunities for low-altitude economic applications released by the Huangpu District of Guangzhou shows that the low-altitude economy has broad application prospects in three major areas: production operations, public services, and aviation consumption. These scenarios include innovative applications such as drones delivering college admission notices, reflecting the potential of the low-altitude economy to improve efficiency and service quality.
The low-altitude economy shows significant economic potential across various fields, including logistics, tourism, agriculture, firefighting, and urban management, and promotes urban construction and regional industrial development through integration with related industries.
3. The Integration of LPWAN Technology in New Infrastructure Related to the Low-Altitude Economy
In the context of new infrastructure development for the low-altitude economy, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology has a significant complementary role in the construction of low-altitude economic infrastructure. LPWAN technologies include TPUNB, LORA, and NB-IoT, characterized by wide coverage, low power consumption, and low cost, providing efficient data transmission and communication support for the low-altitude economy.
Applications of LPWAN Technology in the Low-Altitude Economy
- Data Transmission and Monitoring: LPWAN technology can be used for monitoring the status and data transmission of low-altitude aircraft, such as the flight status, location, and environmental data of drones, ensuring safe operation.
- Remote Control and Communication: Through LPWAN networks, low-altitude aircraft can achieve remote control and communication, providing stable communication connections even in areas with weak network coverage.
- Intelligent Management: LPWAN can support the intelligent management of low-altitude aircraft, such as communication coordination and data synchronization in drone swarm flights, improving operational efficiency and management levels.
Complementarity of LPWAN Technology and New Infrastructure
- Wide Coverage: The extensive coverage characteristics of LPWAN technology address the limited coverage issues of high-frequency communication technologies like 5G, making it particularly suitable for drone communication needs in remote areas and vast airspace.
- Low Power Advantage: The low power consumption characteristics make LPWAN suitable for low-altitude aircraft that need to operate for extended periods, prolonging device endurance and reducing the need for frequent recharging or battery replacement.
- Cost-Effectiveness: The relatively low construction and maintenance costs of LPWAN networks make them suitable for large-scale deployment, supporting the rapid expansion of the low-altitude economy and reducing overall operational costs.
Integration Points Between LPWAN and Low-Altitude Economic Infrastructure
- Multi-Level Network Architecture: Combining LPWAN with 5G, satellite communication, and other technologies to create a multi-layered, fully covered communication network that meets communication needs in different scenarios. Low-altitude aircraft can utilize 5G networks in high-density areas and LPWAN in remote and vast airspace, ensuring seamless communication.
- Integration of Smart Cities and the Low-Altitude Economy: In smart city construction, LPWAN technology has been widely applied in areas like intelligent transportation and environmental monitoring. By integrating with the low-altitude economy, drones can perform intelligent patrols, deliveries, and emergency rescues in urban areas, enhancing urban management.
- Environmental Monitoring and Data Collection: Utilizing LPWAN technology, low-altitude aircraft can carry out wide-area environmental monitoring tasks, such as air quality monitoring and agricultural data collection, providing data support for smart agriculture and environmental protection.
Future Development Directions
- Standardization and Interoperability: Promoting the standardized application of LPWAN technology in the low-altitude economy to ensure interoperability between different devices and systems, enhancing overall efficiency and compatibility.
- Technological Innovation and Upgrades: Continuously advancing LPWAN technology innovation and upgrades to improve data transmission rates, network capacity, and reliability, meeting the growing application demands of the low-altitude economy.
- Policy and Regulation: Governments should develop corresponding policies and regulatory frameworks to promote the integrated development of LPWAN technology and the low-altitude economy, ensuring network security and data privacy protection.
- Ecosystem Development: Building a complete industrial ecosystem that brings together communication technology, drone manufacturing, application services, and other forces to jointly promote the integration of LPWAN and the low-altitude economy, forming a sustainable industrial chain.
LPWAN technology’s complementarity with low-altitude economic infrastructure in new infrastructure is evident. Through its wide coverage, low power consumption, and low cost characteristics, it can effectively support the communication and data transmission needs of low-altitude aircraft. In the future, through technological innovation, standardization, policy support, and ecosystem development, the integration of LPWAN technology with the low-altitude economy will further promote the rapid growth of the low-altitude economy, becoming an important component of new productive forces.
4. Successful Cases of Deep Integration Between the Low-Altitude Economy and Traditional Industries
Achieving deep integration between the low-altitude economy and traditional industries requires efforts in multiple areas, including technological innovation, infrastructure construction, application scenario expansion, and industrial ecosystem cultivation. Here are some successful cases and models:
- Longhua District: As an industrial hub in Shenzhen, Longhua actively seizes the strategic opportunity of the intensive innovation and rapid development of the low-altitude economy, establishing a pioneering system and mechanism for the innovative development of the low-altitude economy. This area has focused on addressing the four major challenges of technological innovation, infrastructure, application scenarios, and industrial ecosystem cultivation, forming a unique development model for the low-altitude economy.
- Chengdu: The Chengdu government has also made significant progress in the low-altitude economy. By utilizing the results of the collaborative management reform pilot in low-altitude airspace, Chengdu is activating the advantages of industries such as general aviation and industrial drones, aiming to build a low-altitude economy center in the western region. Additionally, Chengdu successfully achieved the country’s first interprovincial low-altitude logistics inaugural flight and conducted the first low-altitude manned verification flight in the country.
- Huangpu District, Guangzhou: Huangpu District has also made important advancements in the application scenarios of the low-altitude economy. For instance, the successful test flight of the drone allocation scenario for transit cards not only shortened transportation time and improved efficiency but also expanded the application scenarios of low-altitude economy in Nanjing.
5. The Current Application Status of Information Innovation Characteristics in Air Traffic Control and Communication Systems
The application status of information innovation (信创) characteristics in air traffic control and communication systems and their impact on the development of the low-altitude economy can be analyzed from multiple aspects.
Current Status of Information Innovation Applications in Air Traffic Control and Communication Systems
The “Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the Low-Altitude Economy Industry in Beijing” released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology mentions that within the next three years, national leading demonstration goals will be formed in areas such as technological innovation and standard policies. This indicates that the application of information innovation technology in air traffic control and communication systems has garnered policy-level attention and support.
Industry insiders point out that quickly building complete takeoff and landing sites, flight service bases, ground communication facilities, and digital airspace systems is key to promoting the development of the low-altitude economy. The construction and improvement of these facilities require extensive adoption of information innovation technology to ensure the efficiency and security of data transmission.
In the development of the low-altitude economy, information innovation technology has also been applied in the fields of drone detection and countermeasures. For example, Beijing’s low-altitude policy has first mentioned security countermeasures and emphasized the need to establish a national benchmark for low-altitude security countermeasures. The application of this technology not only enhances the safety of airspace management but also reflects the importance of information innovation technology in practical operations.
Impact on Low-Altitude Economy Development
Comprehensive information innovation technology can significantly enhance the efficiency of air traffic control and communication systems, thereby reducing the burden on enterprises and accelerating the development of the low-altitude economy. By optimizing communication networks and airspace management systems, operational costs can be effectively reduced, and overall economic benefits can be improved.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology points out that the low-altitude economy is a typical representative of new productive forces, characterized by innovation leadership, green low-carbon practices, and integration of digital and physical realms. Information innovation technology plays a critical role in this process, promoting the development of emerging industrial clusters and future industrial foresight.
Developing the low-altitude economy can activate three-dimensional spatial resources, provide efficient public services, change production and lifestyle patterns, and give rise to a new ecosystem of cross-industry integration. Information innovation technology provides technical support in this process, making the integration of different fields tighter and more efficient.
The low-altitude economy is seen as a new engine for economic growth, while information innovation technology is one of the essential means to achieve this goal. By continuously promoting technological innovation and standard formulation, information innovation technology will inject new vitality into the low-altitude economy, assisting its rapid development.
The application of information innovation characteristics in air traffic control and communication systems not only improves the efficiency and safety of the systems but also provides robust technical support for the development of the low-altitude economy.
6. The Role of Policy Support and Market Demand in Promoting the Low-Altitude Economy as a New Productive Force
In promoting the low-altitude economy as a new productive force, both policy support and market demand play important roles.
- Policy Support: Local governments have introduced a series of policy measures to promote the development of the low-altitude economy. For example, Guangzhou’s “Implementation Plan for Low-Altitude Economy Development” emphasizes the importance of collaborative support in areas such as policy regulations, airspace opening, technological innovation, access standards, and application scenarios. These policies not only provide funding and resource guarantees for the low-altitude economy but also promote its rapid development through legislation and technological innovation.
- Market Demand: The market size of the low-altitude economy has shown rapid growth in recent years. According to data, the scale of China’s low-altitude economy reached 400 billion yuan in 2022. and it is expected to grow to over 450 billion yuan in 2023. China’s low-altitude economy has a solid development foundation, with market demand driving scale growth, scenario applications accelerating integration and coverage, and technological innovation supporting global leadership. This indicates that market demand is a significant driving force behind the development of the low-altitude economy, promoting the rapid growth of related enterprises and technologies.
Policy support and market demand each play unique roles in promoting the low-altitude economy as a new productive force.