South Korea has introduced mobile edge computing (MEC) technology at Incheon International Airport to screen potential COVID-19 patients.
MEC technology minimizes latency by sending data to nearby small-scale data centers, rather than to a centralized data center.
The artificial intelligence (AI) system will check for passengers without masks or with COVID-19 symptoms, such as high temperature, at the arrival and departure halls of the country's main gateway, located west of Seoul, using digital kiosks and video surveillance. The system can also send out autonomous robots for disinfection.
SK Telecom Co. installed millimeter-wave band 5G base stations at the airport to operate the service, which will also use the company's new AI chip, the SAPEON X220.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said that 120 billion won has been set aside until 2022 for projects using MEC-based 5G services.
