M2MTech's elevator control framework selected as an international standard.

The elevator control framework developed by domestic company "M2MTech Co., Ltd." and research institutes "ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)" has been approved as an international standard. This is the first time that an international standard for elevator monitoring and management has emerged as an Internet of Things (IoT)-based framework.

M2MTech (CEO Kim Jin-gi), an IoT company, has officially developed the 'IoT-based monitoring and management framework for elevators' as an international standard (Y. It was announced on the 9th that it was approved.

The framework was approved as an international standard at the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) SG20 International Conference held online last month. SG20 is an organization that carries out the activities of enacting and revising the ITU-T recommended standards in the field of IoT and smart-city.

M2MTech and ETRI developed international and domestic standards while carrying out the 'IoT gateway protocol and data model standard development for smart elevators' project of the Ministry of Science and ICT for three years from 2018. IoT-based elevator monitoring and management were proposed for the smart city case developed by ITU-T SG20, and it was finally adopted at this conference.

The purpose of the Y.4420 standard is to model major parts and sensors in an elevator as IoT devices and then remotely monitor them. The remote monitoring requirements, remote management protocol, and data model are presented. There were some attempts to standardize elevator control in China and Singapore, but the content developed by Korea was adopted as an international standard.

In the meantime, elevators have been placed in a safety blind spot, with frequent lock-in accidents due to different standards for each manufacturer. According to the '2019 Rescue Activity Statistics' published by the Fire Service, the number of accidents involving elevators was the third-highest among rescue activities by type after fire and traffic. By type and number of rescuers, the highest number of accidents in elevators was 25.8%.

The international standard approval is expected to reduce accidents as well as innovate the elevator management system and reduce costs. Existing global conglomerates in the elevator manufacturing sector developed products with their own protocols, acting as a barrier to entry for domestic SMEs. By preparing the international standard this time, the foundation for protecting domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a closed industrial ecosystem and interoperating systems have been laid. Non-face-to-face services in connection with IoT application services such as delivery robots in buildings and fire detectors are also possible.

Prior to international standards, M2MTech established three corporate standards of the Korea Information and Communication Technology Association (TTA) at the end of last year in cooperation with the Korea Elevator Safety Authority and the Korea Elevator Society. Currently, the National Radio Research Agency (RRA) and the standard committee for the development of national standards are in progress.

M2MTech is building and providing services to escalators, elevators, and mechanical parking lots of famous domestic department stores using international standard technology. Recently, in partnership with the Korea Elevator Safety Authority, an elevator risk prediction system based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology is being promoted at a world-leading level.

Kim Jin-ki, CEO of M2MTech, said, “It is meaningful that Korea has established an international standard for elevator safety that has not existed before. It will solve the difficult issue of elevator maintenance and management due to the lack of standards, and will also reduce the damage caused by lock-in accidents.”