The low-altitude shared drone application demonstration project set up by the East Lake High-tech Development Zone. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The 2023 list of "Excellent Cases of Digital Government Construction" was unveiled on Dec 9 at a press conference in Beijing, with the low-altitude shared drone application demonstration project provided by the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as the Optics Valley of China, or OVC) selected to join its coveted ranks.

The event was jointly organized by bjnews.com.cn, the National Academy of Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China, and other bodies, aiming to support the modernization of national governance.

Since the solicitation process for entries began in May, more than 200 cases from 40 cities in 17 provinces across the country threw their hats in the ring. Finally, 30 excellent cases of digital government were selected.

The low-altitude shared drone application demonstration project was lauded as an innovative case of digital government. It uses 5G, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to build a low-altitude sensing network for air-ground coordination.

The project aims to create a low-altitude shared drone platform that covers the entire valley. By providing a flexible aerial perspective, it fills the blind spots and shortcomings of fixed ground monitoring, and provides multidimensional internet of things sensing data for the valley's digital infrastructure.

The project has developed 55 identification algorithms for various urban drone applications and built 34 application scenarios. It enables unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to perform automatic inspections and patrols within the OVC. In the event of any sudden emergency in the district, the UAVs can arrive at the scene within 5 minutes.

Since its launch, the project has provided alerts for 46 fires, discovered and assisted in handling 176 illegal cases, and has been applied in street management, river inspections, environmental monitoring, traffic patrols, forest fire prevention, and other fields.