bitsensing—Solving the Universal Problem with Technology
bitsensing—Solving the Universal Problem with Technology
  • Lee Jae-eun
  • 승인 2020.07.14 18:22
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Why I Chose “Start-up”.
Feb. 11, 2015. I still cannot forget this day. There was the biggest 106-car collision on the Yeongjong bridge due to a heavy fog. I was regretful; I thought, “this would not have happened if we had a radar that perfectly detected objects, even in heavy fogs.” 
As I had been conducting research on the radar technology for 10 years, I decided to make ‘zero road accident deaths’ possible. In Jan. 2018, I quit my job and founded bitsensing. 
With the slogan “Design future Safety”, bitsensing is now developing technology that can ensure safety in our daily lives. Our main focus areas are “Future mobility”, which is related to transportation and automotive, and “Smart Life”, which aims to enhance the safety of the places we live in.
 

10 Years as a Radar Researcher
I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Signal Processing at POSTECH. Then, I joined Mando, Korea’s leading automobile parts manufacturer. At the time, there were no automobile radar manufacturers in Korea, and Mando was the first to research on automobile radar in the country. In 2008, it started developing radar with three starting members. In the early stages of development, we worked day and night, searching for international journals and disassembling foreign radars.
In particular, due to the mountainous topographical characteristics of Korea, there are many more tunnels in Korea than in other countries. Tunnels malfunction radar electromagnetic waves, making it difficult to develop a functioning radar model. The constant testing kept us motivated to overcome such difficulties, and, as a result, Mando was able to produce the first “ultra-high frequency 77GHz long-range radar” for automobiles in 2014. The radar is currently installed in Hyundai/Kia Motor’s major models such as Genesis to prevent accidents and allow semi-autonomous driving functions.
Since radar is a combination of various fields of electrical engineering, the mass production of the first Korean domestic radar was not only an honor at the national level but also the most meaningful and happy moment of my life.
 

bitsensing’s First Product, AIR Traffic
Radar sensors can be used not only to mobility such as self-driving vehicles but also to applications that can lead to a safer and more convenient life. For example, it can be installed on a road to implement a real-time dynamic map to monitor traffic flow and deliver information to users in different lanes. After all, it is a system that connects road and mobility to create what we commonly call “smart city”.
This system is AIR (Augmented Imaging Radar) Traffic, the product that won the CES 2020 Innovation Award as an Honoree in the Smart Cities category. Our key engineers have years of expertise, which made it possible to develop high-performance products in a short time. Its performance is excellent enough to pass reliability tests and various certifications on its first attempt, and it can solve problems on the road, such as traffic jams and chain collisions. Every country has the same problems on the road, and there was a strong need to solve them, making it possible to win the prize.


The Future of the Autonomous Mobility Industry
Development of Advanced Driver Assistant System (ADAS) has enabled semi-autonomous driving. Fully autonomous driving is defined as a state at which the driver does not have to intervene at all, but the current semi-autonomous driving requires the driver to keep eyes on the road and hold the steering wheel. For fully automated driving to be implemented, it must be possible to detect and recognize objects outside of the vehicle, such as other vehicles and people, under any environmental conditions. But no vehicle sensor has yet fully met this condition. Companies around the world related to autonomous driving are struggling to make this sensor. This is because a “standard” is yet to be established.
I started my own business, because I believe radar will become a major sensor that can lead the autonomous vehicle industry. The company plans to create a complete solution through AIR 4D, which combines camera technology with a radar that is robust, even in bad weather. We are developing a very practical product that can also be applied to low-cost vehicles.


The Attraction bitsensing has
Only a few companies in the world have developed automotive vehicle radars. There are only five or six in the world. bitsensing seeks to advance the era of fully autonomous driving by combining traffic data on the road, collected through AIR Traffic, with data from AIR 4D, mounted on vehicles to detect the surroundings.
There are many members from POSTECH in our company, including myself (CEO), COO, technical strategy manager, and more. They understood my visions and gathered strength for me since school days.
Think about the change in our daily lives before and after Google. Together with our company, I want to change the paradigm of automobiles, before and after bitsensing in the era of autonomous driving.
 

Choose What Makes Your Heart Beat and Prepare Carefully
New technologies are constantly introduced, and they change our lives, whether good or bad. The radar technology we study will also change our lives once it is developed and commercialized. I want to make this change a good one. The problems of safety accidents are scattered everywhere in our lives. I hope the people I value will be safe and happy. Furthermore, I hope there will be no more people in the world dying from accidents.
If you really want to discover and solve social problems like me, enter the path of entrepreneurship. However, I advise you to be persistent and madly put into action on the matter. Also, think again whether the problem is a “universal” problem that many people acknowledge. Open and redefine problems in various ways and solve them one by one. The process will be painful and bumpy, but it will be truly heart-beating and rewarding.
The preparation period may vary depending on the size and difficulty of the problem, so make thorough considerations before starting a business. I believe that the most important thing in starting a business is gathering talented and trustworthy people. Nothing is more important than a comrade who can get through the rough road together. I wish success to all who read this article.

Lee Jae-eun / CEO of bitsensing
Lee Jae-eun / CEO of bitsensing