U.S. Time magazine has called the Ukraine-Russia war ※the first AI war. While many expected the war to end soon due to the disparity in military power, it has been prolonged due to Western support and other factors. The Washington Post called it the ※first algorithmic war in human history. Weapons and systems that incorporate various AI software, unmanned cameras, and unmanned drones are active on the battlefield, shattering the conventional wisdom of warfare. Countries are realizing that AI is essential for the new era of warfare and defense, and defense and military companies are innovating to keep up with the times.

FAIP3.0, an AIoT platform that creates AI with AI!

From image analytics to defense innovation!

Funzin is an artificial intelligence solutions company that has been providing AI solutions for robotics, defense, and telecommunications with its Swarm Intelligence, Vision, and on-device AI technologies. The company provides telecommunications, artificial intelligence solutions, autonomous robots, and teleoperation system services, and has accumulated 15 years of know-how in the telecommunications engineering business. One of the services is Ocelot 5G, a 5G NR radio network quality analysis solution that applies big data and machine learning technologies to proactively detect radio environment anomalies. Funzin has developed the “Automatic Verification System for IPTV Service and Set-top Box Functionality” that provides automatic verification technology to customers to improve work efficiency. This is a technology-leading product that uses vision recognition technology to create a commercial product. The company has also been engaged in various telecommunications and Internet of Things businesses such as PoF, which enables easy and quick home network construction, and recently developed and provided AIoT solutions and platforms by incorporating AI technology. FAIP3.0 is one such AIoT platform. FAIP3.0 is an AI creation and operation platform that automates more than 80% of the AI development process, including data collection, training, lightweighting, evaluation, deployment, and management, to enable fast and efficient AI development, and automatically deploy continuously advanced AI to customers after development. It is a platform that not only utilizes AI, but also manages multiple AI model development projects with FAIP studio that automatically generates AI and technology that manages deployment. At CES 2023, the company also introduced FAIP_EDGE, a new edge AI camera that enables real-time image analysis based on deep learning. Compared to conventional image analysis, it improves the reaction speed when recognizing objects and increases the number of recognizable objects at the same time, and further enhances its versatility through fusion of different sensors such as radar. In particular, the company’s self-developed kit technology enables the introduction of high-performance AI solutions at low cost. Currently, Funzin is developing a platform to achieve defense innovation through artificial intelligence solutions, one of which is KWM using AI staff technology.

Transform your defense in the era of AI weapons with KWM, the general staff AI solution!

With the war in Ukraine, we are at the beginning of a new game-changer: AI weapons. Traditionally, wars have been fought by humans who command, fight, operate weapons, maintain and manage, and provide human and administrative support. However, the battlefield is shifting to an environment where AI, robots, and drones support the single soldier, and each soldier operates multiple weapons. KWM (Kill-Web Matching), developed by Funzin for this defense innovation, is an AI-based solution for ‘optimal weapon/measure recommendation’ to commanders considering the battlefield environment. KWM is based on Swarm Intelligence, which is a technology that derives the optimal operation method of a large number of heterogeneous/synchronous agents. In short, it’s an AI technology that finds the best way to operate multiple objects in a purposeful way, and Funzin has developed RANZA and ESPER, systems that automatically assign tasks, work schedules, and routes to multiple robots. Using these technologies, Funzin completed development of KWM in October of last year and it works as an AI general staff that recommends weapon system matching for the best killweb configuration among multiple weapons. It is currently in the process of integrating with real weapons systems to build an AI air defense system. The company is also developing technology for seamlessly transmitting defense operations to soldiers. FAIP3.0_aiNET, which is currently under development, is an AI handover solution that selects the optimal wireless network for seamless transmission across multiple heterogeneous networks, including satellites. This technology is a core technology for 6G networks and is gaining a foothold not only in Korea but also globally. 

Defense innovation for the future!

The leader for the future!

Funzin CEO Deukhwa Kim said the barrier to bringing AI technology to defense is the time gap between the pace of advancement of AI technology and the militarization process, and it is important to ensure governance to bridge this gap. “If our strategy has been to pursue defense adoption of technologies that have been identified in the civilian market, I think it’s time to proactively try to adopt challenging technologies for defense.” says Kim.

To this end, Kim said it is necessary to expand the participation of private companies in R&D and provide a foundation to secure global competitiveness to foster K-defense unicorn companies. “If you get support as a government-subsidized industry, it’s treated as a research service and the benefits are not captured as revenue. This causes foreign companies to lose out on economies of scale when exporting, and this needs to be reinforced.” Funzin is also developing various platforms and solutions such as the brain of autonomous robots and remote operating systems for robots, and will strive to become a leader in the future industry by applying its technological capabilities accumulated in the telecommunications industry and smart car.