Recently, the Southern Power Grid Digital Grid Research Institute Co., Ltd. has joined hands with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Nanoscience and Technology Innovation Research Institute and other institutions to jointly build an innovation chain for intelligent sensors, focusing on the fields of digital power grids, environmental monitoring, intelligent manufacturing, and the Internet of Vehicles.

Intelligent sensors are equivalent to the sensory organs of factories and machines and are the cornerstone of the Industry 4.0 scenario. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the scale of China's sensor market has maintained a double-digit growth rate in the past five years. Faced with the development goals of industrialization, scaling, and specialization, what are the scientific research foundations and core advantages of China's intelligent sensor research? How can it help achieve the digital transformation of the power grid, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and achieve high-quality power supply? In response to hot topics of concern in the industry, this reporter interviewed relevant experts.

From "Integration Simplicity" to "Form Simplicity"

Under the guidance of the construction of a digital China, China has made significant progress in the field of intelligent sensing, and the sensor industry has initially formed a four-regional industrial space pattern of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Rim, and the central and western regions. Li Peng, the person in charge of intelligent sensing and chip technology at the Southern Power Grid Digital Grid Research Institute Co., Ltd., said in an interview with our reporter: "At present, China's intelligent sensing field has important research foundations and core advantages in new materials, magnetoresistive chips, micro-sensor integration technology, and low-power MEMS technology, especially in the power industry, some products have reached an internationally leading level in overall technology."

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It is understood that power sensors can give the power grid the sense of touch, hearing, and vision. At present, the digitalization, networking, and intelligent transformation of China's power grid are accelerating, which cannot be separated from the support of power sensor technology innovation, and at the same time, it will also bring great opportunities for the development of power sensors.

"At present, China's power digitalization-related industries are still in the early stages of development, and key core technologies urgently need to be broken through, especially in the fields of intelligent power chips and intelligent sensors. As the 'brain' and 'touch' of the digital power grid, they are not yet perfect and urgently need to accelerate the research and development of related technologies and products." Li Peng frankly stated that in terms of product application, China's sensor products are mainly low-end products or application integration, and the quality, price, and function of sensors need to be improved. In the future, digital energy will move towards integration simplicity, including architectural integration, form simplicity, and engineering productization, making equipment less and less, smaller and smaller, and gradually miniaturized, lightweight, and high-precision.

From technical "bottleneck" to property "moat"

What technical problems does China's intelligent sensing industry still face? Li Peng analyzed that the first is the urgent need to break through sensing material technology and process technology; the second is to promote the formation of an integrated system of digital sensing, intelligent analysis, and precise control, which is characterized by the rapid response of digital sensing, to solve the fragmentation problem of intelligent sensor technology and application; the third is to promote the formation of a multi-field integrated sensing ecosystem.

Taking the power industry as an example, intelligence, multi-disciplinary, and multi-field integration will become the development trend of the power sensing industry. Physical equipment and information perception terminals will be deeply coupled, multi-industry and multi-field technologies will be integrated and intersected, and more attention will be paid to the key, basic, and forward-looking research and development of intelligent sensing under multi-field integration.Only by simultaneously advancing the development of key, foundational, and forward-looking technologies in smart power sensing, promoting the application of theoretical research results, and establishing a comprehensive control capability of the entire sensor ecosystem from chips and algorithms to hardware and software, can we form a unique intellectual property 'moat'." Li Peng stated, "We must not only enhance independent R&D capabilities but also accelerate the construction of high-level scientific and technological innovation platforms for smart power sensing, consolidate the internal ties and collaborative mechanisms between technology R&D and product industry, and form a healthy, complete, and vibrant power sensing ecosystem."

Shifting from "imported general-purpose" to "independent specialized"

As the construction of the energy internet and the digital transformation of the power grid progress, the power grid has set higher requirements for the depth, breadth, and density of information perception. The large-scale application of smart power sensors helps to improve the level of power grid operation and management, and build a flexible, stable, and secure energy network.

Li Peng believes that smart power sensors can achieve real-time measurement feedback and dynamic adjustment of the state of the power grid, complete intelligent perception of information and intelligent self-healing of faults, provide terminal support and information support for cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, and high-quality power supply control decisions, and achieve in-depth perception of the power grid, ensuring the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of smart grids in complex networks and environments.

In fact, in addition to the "hand" of smart sensors, the digital transformation of the power grid also requires the "brain" of the power master control chip to control the power grid. As a core component of secondary equipment in the power grid, the master control chip is involved in millions of key devices of the power grid, and has long been monopolized by foreign manufacturers, severely restricting the development of core technologies in China's power grid.

In response to this "bottleneck" issue, China Southern Power Grid Company, relying on the national key R&D plan, based on domestic independent CPU core and domestic packaging and testing technology, has developed the first power-specific master control chip "Fuxi" based on domestic instruction architecture and domestic core, which has been verified and applied in multiple key scenarios of the power grid such as control protection, automation, and new energy.

In the industry, the successful development and mass production of the "Fuxi" chip are expected to break free from the restrictions of Western countries in terms of intellectual property rights, marking the transformation of core chips in China's power industrial control field from "imported general-purpose" to "independent specialized".

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