On-device AI semiconductor fabless specialist Ideas to Silicon announced on the 24th that it has been finally selected for the “Global TIPS” research and development project overseen by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Global TIPS is a program that links private investment with government R&D support to assist small and venture companies whose unique technological capabilities and potential for entering global markets have been recognized.

The current project aims to integrate real-time video analysis for military drones and highly reliable wireless communication functions into a single ultra‑low‑power system‑on‑chip (SoC). It is intended to reduce dependence on existing foreign components and thereby mitigate supply chain risks and security vulnerabilities.

The semiconductor being developed by Ideas to Silicon applies its independently developed ultra‑low‑power NPU architecture (NN2.0). It is designed to reduce the number of gates by about 32% by replacing multiplication operations, which consume large amounts of power, with shift operations, while minimizing performance degradation. Through this, 4K‑class high‑resolution battlefield images will be analyzed in real time inside the drone. In addition, by embedding electronic image stabilization (EIS), night vision enhancement, and super‑resolution (SR) technologies, the company plans to improve object identification accuracy even in extreme environments.

To ensure communication reliability, the company will also integrate lightweight deep‑learning‑based digital pre‑distortion compensation technology into the chip through industry‑academia collaboration with Kyungpook National University. This technology will compensate for signal distortion caused during abrupt altitude and temperature changes and in high‑power amplification processes, and will be developed to support stable remote control and data transmission and reception even in jamming environments.

Through this project, Ideas to Silicon plans to file key domestic and international patents and, following validation cooperation with defense‑industry institutions and system integrators, to further detail its mass production plans.

A representative of Ideas to Silicon said, “We will complete the development of a domestically produced semiconductor that addresses both video analysis and communication compensation with a single chip, tailored to the highly constrained environment of military unmanned aerial vehicles.”

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