Recently, the Southern Power Grid Digital Grid Research Institute Co., Ltd. joined forces with the Guangdong Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Nanotechnology Innovation Institute and other institutions to build a smart sensor innovation chain, focusing on digital power grids, environmental monitoring, intelligent manufacturing, vehicle networking and other fields.

Smart 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, in the past five years, the size of China's sensor market has maintained a double-digit growth rate. In the face of industrialization, scale, and characteristic development goals, what are the scientific research bases and core advantages of intelligent sensing research in China? How to help support the digital transformation of the power grid, achieve cost reduction and efficiency and high-quality power supply? In view of the hot topics concerned by the industry, the reporter interviewed relevant experts.
From "Fusion Minimalism" to "Form Minimalism"
Under the guidance of the construction of digital China, China has made great progress in the field of intelligent sensing, and the sensor industry has initially formed an industrial spatial pattern of the development of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Sea and the central and western regions. Li Peng, head of intelligent sensing and chip technology of Southern Power Grid Digital Grid Research Institute Co., LTD., said in an interview with our reporter: "At present, China's intelligent sensing field has an important research foundation and core advantages in new materials, magnetoresistive chips, micro-sensor integration technology, low-power MEMS technology, especially in the power industry, and the overall technology of some products has reached the international leading level."
It is understood that the power sensor can make the power grid have tactile, auditory, visual, at present, China's power grid digital, networking, intelligent transformation is accelerated, not only inseparable from the support of power sensor technology innovation, but also will bring great opportunities to the development of power sensors.
"At present, China's power digitalization related industries are still in the early stage of development, and key core technologies need to be broken through, especially in the fields of smart power chips, smart sensors, etc., as the 'brain' and 'tentacles' of the digital grid are not perfect, and there is an urgent need to accelerate the research and development of related technologies and products." Li Peng frankly said 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 the sensor need to be improved. In the future, digital energy will move toward fusion minimalism, including architecture integration, minimalist form, and engineering productization, so that equipment will be less variable, from large to small, and gradually miniaturized, lightweight, and high-precision.
From technology "stuck neck" to property "moat"
At present, what are the technical problems facing China's intelligent sensing industry? Li Peng analyzed that, first, it is urgent to break through the sensor material technology and process technology; The second is to promote the formation of an integrated system of digital sensing, intelligent analysis, and precise control according to the characteristics of rapid response of digital sensing, and solve the problem of fragmentation of smart sensor technology and applications; The third is to promote the formation of multi-field integration of sensing ecology.
Taking the power industry as an example, intelligent, multidisciplinary, 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 more attention will be paid to the key, basic, and forward-looking technology research and development of intelligent sensing under the integration of multiple fields.
"Only when the key, basic and forward-looking technology research and development of power intelligent sensing is carried out at the same time, to promote the application of technical theoretical achievements, and to form the control ability of the whole ecological chain of sensors from chips, algorithms to hardware and software can a unique intellectual property 'moat' be formed." Li Peng said, "It is necessary to enhance independent research and development capabilities, but also to speed up the construction of high-level scientific and technological innovation platform for power intelligent sensing, consolidate the endogenous link and synergy mechanism between technology research and development and product industry, and form a healthy, sound and dynamic power sensing ecosystem."
From "imported general purpose" to "autonomous special purpose"
With the promotion of energy Internet construction and the digital transformation of the power grid, the power grid has put forward higher requirements for the depth, breadth and density of information perception, and the large-scale application of power intelligent sensors helps to improve the operation and management level of the power grid and build a flexible, stable and safe energy network.
Li Peng believes that smart power sensors can achieve real-time measurement feedback and dynamic adjustment of power grid state quantity, complete intelligent perception of information and intelligent self-healing of faults, provide terminal support and information support for control decisions such as cost reduction and efficiency improvement and high-quality power supply, realize depth perception of power grid, and ensure the safe, reliable and efficient operation of smart grid in complex networks and environments.
In fact, the digital transformation of the power grid requires in addition to the "tentacle" of smart sensors, but also the "brain" of the power master chip to control the power grid. As the core device of power grid secondary equipment, the main control chip involves tens of millions of power grid key devices, and has been monopolized by foreign manufacturers for a long time, seriously restricting the development of China's power grid core technology.
In response to this "bottleneck" problem, relying on the national key research and development plan, based on domestic independent CPU core and domestic OEM sealing and testing technology, the Southern Power Grid Company developed the first domestic power dedicated master control chip "Fuxi" based on domestic command architecture and domestic core, and has completed the verification and application in many key grid scenarios such as power grid control and protection, automation, and new energy.
In the view of the industry, the successful research and development and mass production of "Fuxi" chip is expected to get rid of the restrictions of Western countries in intellectual property rights, marking the core chip in China's power industrial control field from "imported general" to "independent dedicated".