Introduction

The Low-Altitude Intelligent Network (LAIN) is pivotal in driving the high-quality development and high-level security of the low-altitude economy. This achievement delivers comprehensive and systematic innovation in LAIN across four dimensions: technology, standards, products, and applications, enabling digital and intelligent innovations in lifestyles, industrial production and social governance.

Guided by the core principles of "air-ground coordination, communication-sensing integration, and security-trustworthiness", this achievement has established the world's first LAIN technological system encompassing capabilities of communication, navigation, sensing and management, introducing landmark technologies including novel fish-scale networking, hybrid communication-sensing waveforms and a converged network architecture of communication, sensing, computing and intelligence. These technologies address global challenges including difficulties in achieving wide-area continuous coverage, significant air-ground interference, stringent reliability requirements, and real-time safety supervision in low-altitude operations. This project has led the development of 33 standards such as 3GPP and ITU, resulted in over 300 patents.

In collaboration with industry partners, four types of integrated communication and sensing base stations were developed, with more than 700 units deployed, forming the first large-scale low-altitude trial network. This network achieves continuous communication coverage up to 600-meter height and continuous sensing coverage up to 300-meter height. This project has developed the "CMCC Lingyun" low-altitude service platform, supporting over 200 types of drones and eVTOLs with more than 100 million flight trajectories processed. It has enabled world-class application benchmarks such as urban food delivery, cross-sea logistics and aerial sightseeing, providing pioneering practical experience for the global commercialization of LAIN. The project has been recognized with more than 10 awards, including the 2024 Future Network Leading Technology Achievement Award.

Empowering Digital and Intelligent Innovations in Lifestyles, Industrial Production and Social Governance

This achievement has been piloted in ten major scenarios including low-altitude logistics, transportation and firefighting, establishing application benchmarks such as aerial sightseeing and cross-sea logistics. It enables the low-altitude applications to profoundly empower society and citizens.

Enabling New Aerial Sightseeing Experiences. Using EHang's EH216-S autonomous aerial vehicles, 4G/5G mobile networks, GNSS and ground control systems, manned sightseeing flights have been successfully conducted in scenic areas across Guangzhou, Hefei, and Taiyuan.

Redefining Transportation Paradigms. Between Zhoushan and Shanghai, the world's first 100-kilometer 5G-A integrated communication-sensing network allows fresh seafood to reach Shanghai within an hour and dinner tables within two hours.

Upgrading Social Management. In Chongqing, a drone-based forest fire monitoring system has been deployed, capable of automatic fire detection and alerting. In a recent wildfire response, drones flew over 520 km2 of forest, reducing personnel risk and boosting emergency response efficiency.

Driving High-Quality and Large-Scale Development of the Low-Altitude Economy

Leading Technological Innovation in LAIN. The project has established the world's first integrated LAIN technological system encompassing capabilities of communication, navigation, sensing and management. It has led the development of international standards for connected drones in 3GPP, and initiated 18 industry standards within CCSA. Large-scale trials have been successfully conducted across multiple provinces, with pilot applications implemented in cross-sea logistics and aerial sightseeing. The project has been honored with over 10 awards, including the 2024 Leading Scientific Achievement of the Future Network and the China International Digital Economy Expo Excellence Award. These efforts lay a strong foundation for global commercialization of LAIN.

Promoting the Large-Scale Development of the Low-Altitude Economy. This breakthrough facilitates the creation of next-generation information infrastructure integrating "wide-area reliable communication, intelligent precision navigation, multi-dimensional sensing, and efficient regulatory control", accelerating the evolution of upstream UAV equipment toward unmanned, connected, and intelligent while empowering downstream digital upgrades and expanding low-altitude application scenarios to a broader level. This fosters a diversified low-altitude industry ecosystem, and promotes the high-quality and large-scale development of the low-altitude economy.