A Research and Education (R&E) team from the Korea Science Academy of KAIST, supervised by Professor Kyung-Tae Kim of POSTECH’s Department of Electrical Engineering, won Gold at the 22nd Korea Science & Engineering Fair (KSEF) and was selected to represent Korea at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

The KSA team, comprising high school students Junseop Shin, Kyungjin Shin, and Sanghyun Kim, conducted “Drone Detection through Magnetic Field Analysis.” They analyzed the limitations of existing drone detection technologies and proposed a new detection method using magnetic fields.

By detecting magnetic fields generated by drone motors and electronic components, they experimentally demonstrated a new approach that overcomes limitations of conventional RF-signal-based detection. In particular, azimuth detection experiments demonstrated high accuracy with an error rate below 0.5%, suggesting potential effectiveness for detecting stealth drones and fiber-optic-controlled drones.

The research was conducted under Professor Kim’s supervision with teaching assistant Jaehyun Park, a PhD student. During the experiments, the team applied the Intelligent Radar Systems and Signal Processing Laboratory’s (IRAS) systematic methodology for drone detection research to achieve meaningful results.

The team plans to continue developing its research with the goal of achieving international success at ISEF.