As future weapon systems become unmanned and intelligent, the need for high-performance sensors is gradually increasing. In the field of advanced secondary batteries, the importance of sensors is also increasing for safety in production and use.

The Korea Semiconductor Research Association held the '2023 Sensor Company CEO Forum' at the E-Tower on the 19th.

This event was held to expand communication and exchange information between domestic sensor companies.

For the keynote speech, Sungpil Eo, Director of Hyundai Rotem, gave a presentation on ‘Changes in the Future Battlefield Environment and Development of Mobile Weapon Systems,’ and Youngse Kim, Managing Director of Honeywell Korea, gave a presentation on ‘How to Prevent Thermal Runaway in High Volume LIB Cell.’


Eosungpil, Director of Hyundai Rotem, said that the modern military operation environment is changing from physical and spatial to cyber and network environments, and that the anti-tank threat environment is changing due to the emergence of unmanned combat environments and drones, and that future weapon systems are evolving into software-centered weapon systems, and as unmanned and intelligent systems are accelerating, the demand for sensors is increasing.

It was reported that there is a lot of demand for military-purpose sensors such as optical sensors, lighting control lights, situational awareness surround view, thermal/day cameras, lidar, and radar.

In particular, for sensors applied to national defense, it is important to ensure that their environmental friendliness and performance are guaranteed, so he advised that when supplying or developing sensors targeting national defense, these aspects should be considered first.

Along with this, he also announced the multipurpose unmanned vehicle business and the complex advanced multi-legged robot, and stated that the supply of sensors is important for the stable development of defense-related equipment. In the following keynote speech, Kim Young-se, managing director of Honeywell Korea, said that secondary batteries must maintain 80% of the performance of new products even after 3,000 charges and discharges, but even if performance is not an issue, there are many cases where problems such as fire occur.

In particular, secondary batteries are often in a state of fire that cannot be prevented because the moment a person detects it, a fire has already broken out due to thermal runaway phenomena, so in order to prevent fires, it is necessary to block fires in advance using sensors, he said.

To prevent fire, Honeywell said the Li-ion Tamer immediately cuts off power when it detects off gas generated from secondary batteries.

Honeywell's Li-ion Tamer consists of 12 monitoring sensors and 3 reference sensors in one set, and it is said to trigger an alarm and cut off electricity within 10 seconds when off gas is detected.

In particular, it is important to detect which gas. He said that gases such as CO, H2, CO2, and CH4 are gases detected during thermal runaway, and that DEC and DMC must be detected before these gases are generated. He said that for this, a sensor that can detect complex gases is needed.

He mentioned that these sensors are being used in various fields, including secondary battery production lines, electric vehicle charging stations and chargers, and secondary battery charge/discharge test facilities, and that there are many industrial fields in which they can be applied.

Following the presentation, Canevi Mobility introduced participating companies on the topic of lidar sensor development and cooperation needs.

Kim Jeong-hoe, vice chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, who gave an opening speech at the event, said, “I will make policy proposals for technology development so that the sensor semiconductor business can succeed just like other semiconductor businesses.”

In addition, Joo Byung-kwon, head of the Korea-led K-sensor technology development project, said, “Let’s move forward with technology development with hope for the domestic sensor industry.”