Samsung Electronics and KT Corporation (KT) today announced that the companies have been selected to deploy a Private 5G network for the ‘Smart Naval Port’ project by the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy. This marks the first deployment of its kind at a Korean Naval base. The Navy is carrying forward with this project to improve the battleship and base operation support capabilities and achieve comprehensive base defense.

Samsung and KT have been collaborating on this project since the summer of 2024, with a goal to complete the deployment by December 2025. The companies will build a more intelligent and fully independent network infrastructure to provide seamless coverage and enhanced connectivity for the Republic of Korea Navy 2nd Fleet.

Private 5G solutions are essential to support national defense sectors, which require ultra-fast speeds and hyper-connected communications for the foolproof and effective operation management. These solutions will build a highly reliable network dedicated to the Navy, increasing security and reducing vulnerabilities.

To ensure military workplace safety and efficiency, Samsung and KT will support the Navy’s Private 5G buildout by applying smart, AI-enabled connectivity solutions and powering a variety of next-generation applications. The project will establish a comprehensive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure that encompasses 13 different systems, ranging from uncrewed vehicle operation to armory management and ammunition depot management. Specific use cases include:

• A digital twin of the smart Naval base will provide a three dimensional and high-definition digital replica of the base. This will enable an integrated management system that can also be used as a foundation for establishing strategy development. Insights gathered from the digital twin can inform decisions that will increase the resilience, efficiency, adaptability and autonomy of the Naval base.
• Intelligent security monitoring will enhance the Naval base defense by introducing real-time video control of operational forces and vehicles, surveillance cameras for ammunition depots and armories, and surveillance drones, incorporated with the existing Video Management System (VMS). This monitoring will deliver a holistic view of the base and all for optimal operational response in case of an emergency event through a real-time auto screen switch.
• A one-stop battleship operation management system will enable intelligent battleship operation support through all-in-one system by integrating multiple critical systems — such as navigation support, logistics management, safety management and monitoring. This comprehensive system will streamline and operationalize administrative work for the Navy personnel.

“KT will contribute to establishing a standardized system for the Republic of Korea Navy through the Smart Naval Port project,” said Jun-Ho Kim, Senior Vice President and Head of Public Customer Business Unit at KT Enterprise. “We look forward to laying the foundation for the ‘Smart Naval Port’ which will improve its capability to support battleship and naval base operations.”

Samsung will provide its proven end-to-end private 5G network solution for defense, including its private network 5G SA Compact Core, indoor and outdoor radio solutions and network management software. These solutions support the mid-band (n79, 4.7GHz) spectrum, which is widely adopted for military usage.

With Samsung’s compact solution for the full stack of Private 5G that can run on a single server hardware, the Navy will benefit from quick deployments and less complex operations. Its private 5G radios will deliver improved uplink performance with optimized uplink features, designed to help government agencies upload vast amounts of data across numerous devices simultaneously.

“Samsung’s Private 5G solutions are trusted due to their dependable security, reliability and proven commercial expertise, already serving diverse private and public sectors in countries like South Korea, the U.S. and Japan,” said Simon Lee, Vice President and Head of B2B·B2G Business Development Group, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “In collaboration with KT, we are excited to deploy Korea’s first Private 5G at a Naval base. This project exemplifies our ongoing commitment to enhance and unlock the potential of 5G to meet every customer’s needs.”

Samsung has been actively delivering private 5G networks in collaboration with a range of sectors from hospitals, universities, construction sites to military and local government agencies.

About KT CORPORATION (KRX: 030200; NYSE: KT)
KT Corporation, Korea’s largest telecommunications service provider, reestablished in 1981 under the Telecommunications Business Act, is leading the era of innovations in the world’s most connected country. The company is leading the 4th industrial revolution with high speed wire/wireless network and new ICT technology. KT launched the world’s first nationwide commercial 5G network on April 3, 2019, after successfully showcasing the world’s first trial 5G services at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in February 2018. This is another milestone in KT’s continuous efforts to deliver essential products and services as it aspires to be the number one ICT Company and People’s Company.

For example, in the home, when a user wakes up in the morning on a rainy day, the home lights will gradually brighten, while music fit for a rainy day is selected and played in the background. A cup of coffee will be prepared as soon as the user says “coffee” while stepping into the kitchen and the refrigerator will also recommend meal ideas for the day, asking the user whether he or she would like to buy ingredients online.

In the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, Samsung Electronics is uniquely positioned to bring this world of connected AI services to life, based on the almost half a billion connected devices the company sells every year. In fact, given the typical lifecycle of a device, there are more than a billion Samsung devices actively used around the world at any given time.

Samsung’s device portfolio also is the industry’s broadest, and includes mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, office devices such as PCs, signages and Samsung Flip, devices for the home such as Samsung Smart TVs, Family Hub and FlexWash and FlexDry, and much more.

At this year’s CES, Samsung highlighted its latest innovations in its vision to drive the Internet of Things (IoT) supported by AI. Samsung Smart TVs now integrated with Bixby, are able to play music and shows personalized for users, as well as show who is at the front door or what is inside the refrigerator. The Family Hub refrigerator, also integrated with AI, recognizes the voices of different family members and provides each of them with a personalized daily schedule.

Moving forward, Samsung will continue to remain focused on holistically integrating AI into a connected setting, such as the home or the office, in contrast to other players primarily pursuing implementation of AI on a few devices and services. In the following months, Samsung will integrate not only Samsung devices, but also IoT devices and sensors developed by external partners into the SmartThings eco-system, allowing a single SmartThings app to control everything. Furthermore, Samsung also plans to integrate AI into all its connected devices by 2020.

In the coming years, many IoT devices with AI support will generate a vast array of usage patterns and scenarios. How AI-enabled devices learn and analyze complex usage patterns and provide consumers with the most optimized options will be critical to the success of AI technology for the near future. In other words, the success of AI will boil down to how well the devices understand the users.

Therefore, Samsung’s perspective on AI is to build an eco-system that is user-centric rather than device-centric. To pursue that goal, we will start by building an AI platform under a common architecture that will not only scale quickly, but also provide the deepest understanding of usage context and behaviors, making AI more relevant and useful.

For the past decades, Samsung successfully introduced products and innovations by researching the lifestyle and behavior of global consumers. Paying respect to our heritage of user-centric product development, Samsung will begin an exciting journey open to boundless possibilities in new user experiences by integrating AI into the open IoT ecosystem it is currently developing. This journey will certainly be fascinating for us here at Samsung, but even more so for consumers, as Samsung takes major steps forward to bring consumers’ hopes and expectations to life.