DJI and SK Telecom to Deliver Live HD Video Streaming Capabilities from Drones

DJI has signed an agreement that will allow South Koreans to stream video from their DJI drones straight to Youtube and Facebook Live via a 5G mobile network, it has been reported.

The MoU, which DJI has signed with the telecom service provider SK Telecom, will not only be able to be used for social media but also for TV broadcasting as well as in industries such as agriculture, logistics, exploration, and public safety.

The technology that will make this possible is SK Telecom’s streaming application  ‘T LiveCaster Smart’.

Work with drone manufacturing giant DJI, SK Telecom will expand their base of services by integrating their streaming software with the DJI drone control application ‘DJI Go’.

The two companies are expected to collaborate to further to create synergies in the rapidly growing drones industry – they also say they plan to review SK Telecom’s ‘T Live Studio’ solution, which is a video reception and control server solution, and DJI Flight Hub ‘DJI Flight Hub’

The signing of the agreement was attended by SK Telecom’s Choi Na-hoon, head of IoT business support group, and DJI Yang Gasparic, head of the Global Enterprise Partnership.

Choi Nak-hoon, head of SK Telecom IoT business support group, and Yoon Gasparick, head of DJI Global Enterprise Partnership | SK Telecom

Under the agreement, SK Telecom will provide related solutions such as high-performance real-time video streaming encoder, mobile application and server software based on its “T-LiveCaster”. This makes it possible to transmit in real time with HD quality by minimizing the transmission delay rate of images taken by DJI products.

SK Telecom’s LTE mobile communication network-based high-resolution video control solution is economical because it can use camera and communication module of smart phone, and it has the advantage of installing streaming encoder quickly in various shooting equipment. It is expected to be utilized in various fields such as DJI’s drones and shooting equipment in the future.

The real-time video surveillance solution, which will be launched under the agreement, is expected to have a positive impact not only on the industrial drones market but also on individual customers.

Meanwhile, the two companies will apply to Korea, the United States and Japan, where LTE communication infrastructure is well-equipped, and plan to expand gradually to other countries.

Also, at the time of commercialization of 5G, 5G smartphone and tablet will apply this technology to upgrade products and solutions so that drone images can be streamed at 4K-8K or higher resolution.

A visualisation of the SK Telecom – DJI collaboration | SK Telecom