The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon) held an opening ceremony for a real-world wireless power transfer test bed at 11 a.m. on October 1 at the Dalseong Campus of Kyungpook National University in Dalseong-gun, Daegu. The facility is designed to help companies validate medium- and high-power wireless power transfer technology, applied to electric vehicles and robots, in real-world conditions and move it toward commercialization.
 [코리안투데이] Opening ceremony of the real-world wireless power transfer test bed at the Dalseong Campus of Kyungpook National University © 장형임 기자 |
The opening ceremony drew around 100 participants, including the Director-General of the Radio Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, the head of Daegu’s AI Innovation and Growth Office, the president of Kyungpook National University, and officials from industry, academia, research institutes, and government in the field of wireless power transfer.
Wireless power transfer technology is growing in importance as artificial intelligence rapidly spreads beyond digital space into so-called ‘physical AI,’ in which it directly moves and performs tasks in the real world through robots, vehicles, and manufacturing equipment. For devices to operate on their own, they must be supplied with energy efficiently and reliably without human intervention, and wireless power transfer, which delivers power without wired connections, is drawing attention as the solution. This test bed is significant in that it helps move such technology beyond the research stage into actual use at industrial sites.
The Ministry of Science and ICT has steadily built up the regulatory groundwork in response to industry demand. In 2022, it allocated the 85 kHz band for wireless charging of electric vehicles; in 2023, it eased the licensing burden for electric-vehicle wireless chargers of 11 kW or less; and in 2025, it did the same for industrial wireless chargers of 1 kW or less.
Building on this regulatory foundation, and to enable companies to validate the technologies they have developed in real-world conditions, the Ministry selected Daegu and Kyungpook National University as the project operators through a local-government open call in 2024 and pushed ahead with construction of the test bed.
The test bed consists of an indoor testing space that simulates factories and logistics facilities, and an outdoor testing environment where the wireless charging of vehicles and robots can be tested. It is fully equipped with all the equipment required for a wireless charging system, including power conversion units, transmitting and receiving pads, batteries, and communication devices, so that companies can test performance by swapping in and linking only individual components or products they have developed themselves, such as transmitting and receiving pads, without having to build the entire system separately. This is regarded as practical support in that it reduces the early development burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to support the entire life cycle of the wireless power transfer industry, from spectrum allocation and regulatory improvement to test bed construction, so that technological achievements lead to productization and commercialization, while using the data accumulated during real-world validation for relevant technical standards, regulatory improvements, and domestic and international standardization.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said, ‘We hope the opening of this test bed will serve as a solid foundation that connects companies’ R&D achievements to actual products and businesses and accelerates the application of wireless power transfer technology at industrial sites,’ adding, ‘We will continue to provide the regulatory and administrative support needed for the wireless power transfer industry to grow further.’
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