Electric meter Gold Rush: Formal and basterds entrepreneurs smell the money and attack

"All roads lead to Rome", this sentence in the business world is equally applicable, a big enough and attractive market will always attract entrepreneurs with their own innovative technology in this one show their skill.

For Sianche Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xian Kai Star"), Shanghai Sangrui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Sangrui"), Hangzhou Home and Intelligent Control Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hangzhou Home and"), their "Rome" is "intelligent meter reading" field. Three companies, through two different technologies, the purpose is to achieve a certain accuracy and scale of the meter, water meters and other instruments intelligent meter reading function, but the search for "Rome" the route is different. Fortunately, the prologue of Intelligent reading table just opened, coincidence and different behind, feast is about to begin.

Xian Kai Xing Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. founder Zhao is

Hangzhou Home and Intelligent Control Co., Ltd. founder Fang Zhenping

Shanghai Sangrui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. founder Nie Guangyi

Power Carrier: Regular Army?

The first to enter the field of intelligent meter reading is Xian Kai Star. In the 1999, it had been suggested that the use of Low-voltage power carrier technology to replace the old meter into a smart meter, this no longer need to chisel the wall, the line and send someone to knock on the door to read the idea sounds beautiful, but technically jammed.

In state-owned enterprises to study communications Shong listen to friends talking about low-voltage power carrier communication, the first reaction is that this thing is not only magical, and the future certainly has good prospects. Further down, he found that all the companies in the market are trapped in the so-called "real-time and anti-jamming" of the difficult point, once independently handled the national key "Chi Guos" research projects Zhao is not thinking, it is worth trying.

Now it seems that his lucky, without commercial scrutiny, because the market is huge and attractive: replace the old watch into the smart table, the most superficial, can solve the problem of manual reading, to avoid the name of the theft of the table in the case of robbery; Or the existing buildings to transform, wiring, to prevent the corrosion of the line, fault point of the investigation have to go through some toss; the most tempting thing is to respond to the concept of energy saving and emission reduction. To save energy, we must first know the energy consumption, electricity, gas, heat, water, four meters of intelligence can not only quickly get the energy-saving numbers, but also to carry out energy conservation control, and finally realize ladder-type billing, household metering. Because most of the smart meters to be modified, people naturally think of the existing power grid and power carrier technology, with the "grid" This is the world's largest, most widely covered network, where all can be powered by the transmission of information, and the resources of the net is free. From this point of view, smart meter reading no reason not to become an inevitable trend.

Over the past 1990-2000 years, companies trying to make smart watches through power carriers have been in droves. The reason is that at that time, the power carrier technology can not overcome technical difficulties, immature technology has not been a pilot study on the hasty market, most companies can not achieve the success rate of 85% of the passing line. Shong heard that equipped with 20,000 meters of users to finally meter reading success rate even 3% can not reach, only to send someone to rework the hand-copied device. The power carrier has become a gaudy bad name, "and those companies have gone through a lot of research and development, and they're going to die." ”

But he knows that "real time and anti-jamming" need to be addressed through information transmission and spread spectrum technology, "we are very fortunate, because these two technologies I have done and the most authoritative." "He organized a team of just five people in 1999," he said. Zhao's idea is this: interference comes from the combination of different electrical devices combined with the frequency of interference, the frequency of interference is different, so there is always a copy of the table; and what they will create is a multi-band, adaptive, direct sequence carrier technology based on spread spectrum technology, which can distribute the jamming frequency to nine segments, The intelligent analysis is carried out automatically to detect the communication on the frequency band with minimal interference.

To do this, Shong led us to start with the development of a unique chip with this feature. Two years later, Zhao's vision is becoming a reality, and seeing the Zhao of success is the only sign of the company. August 2002, the first generation of West Ankes products out of the oven. In the selection of a plot after the results of the pilot satisfactory, the morale of the big vibration. Since then Zhao is continuing to spend on the chip, a total of five generations of chips, to cope with the increase in user occupancy, electricity environment changes brought by greater circuit interference. West Ankes Products can achieve the reading data accuracy and reading rate of 100%, while the world's leading Israel and South Korea can reach 95%, Europe and the United States can reach 92%, his new technology breakthrough in the field of power carrier, a major problem.

After this, Zhao is even the following, completed the water meter, gas meter, electrothermal meter in the same system of intelligence. In Xi ' an Kai star system, a transformer station needs to install a carrier data concentrator, as long as the instrument connected to the wire, data from the data concentrator to the computer backend user Control Management center, each terminal has its own IP number as a distinction.

Wireless sensing: Basterds?

Zhao is drilling into the laboratory to ponder the power carrier chip, Fang Zhenping has been ready to bypass and beyond the carrier, but at this time he did not know the way to the foot will lead to intelligent reading meter. "I don't know where I'm going with the wireless sensor network technology, but I'm sure the future will be useful," he said. ”

Fang Zhenping founded Hangzhou Home and the main business is industrial control, 2004, but a desire to transform, I hope that two of startups can find a time of significance of the technology as a breakthrough. The information technology prospects of the Fang Zhenping that the Internet is the information of the arteries and veins, it is better to do the information of the capillary. He hopes the technology will be used in a meaningful way for the country's development in the future, and to find a buyer with financial strength, after a scene in the brain, and finally access to wireless sensor network technology. As a technology that can be used to monitor the physical or environmental conditions in different locations, it is represented by the American-led ZigBee agreement.

But ZigBee's idea is a standard with protocol coverage, can not cover all applications, and can only use the 2.4G radio spectrum, but the high frequency band will often encounter the problem of poor diffraction ability, in addition, as defined in a small scale network, can only complete 300 points within the sensor, in China's high-rise environment is inevitable paralysis. This is not in line with Fang Zhenping's imagination. With the challenge of ZigBee, Hangzhou home and began to create a wireless sensor network of networking technology, the main direction is 1000 points above the large-scale networking. They get through the network of algorithms, so that each point in the net can be interconnected, and then developed a suitable module, split the chip and make a lower cost module products. "This research is like learning Japanese, looking at the understanding, the deeper it goes." ”

For two years, founder Ping's team in the bottom of the algorithm to deal with the research. But because ZigBee "has not been a killer application", can only seek industrial export alone. At this time wireless sensor network technology is facing the problem of imperfect industrial chain, in many industries, the application is plagued by the upstream and downstream. In view of the relevant information, he chanced to see the main technology of intelligent meter reading-power carrier technology. "Suddenly I felt the hope, because I saw the problem in the national power grid requirements. Hangzhou has a region in the use of electric power carrier intelligent Meter Reading, one day we all can not use, looking for a long time, found to be a common people home installed large electric water heaters, changed the entire building of electricity situation. Carrier development more than 15 years, still can not complete the problem of reading accuracy, is to be eliminated, and wireless sensor network just can do. ”

Founder Ping do not know, a distant XI ' an company has cracked the problem of power carrier, he is concerned about, wireless sensor network and intelligent meter reading can "agree with". The State grid is also gradually blocking the traditional line reading mode, all indications that smart meter reading is a wonderful entrance, and the monopoly power of the big customers meet his original requirements.

At the beginning of 2008, the research and development of Hangzhou, which was not fully completed, was proposed, using wireless sensor network technology to carry out intelligent meter reading. It is the disregard of the market. While the National Grid is looking for newer solutions, a company in Hangzhou is clearly not easy to push a new technology to the National Grid on its own. May that year, Hangzhou and the Assembly of a number of similar companies with the near-hundred related experts, led the organization of the use of wireless sensor network to achieve smart meter reading standards meeting. However, in the November "Report on the construction of information collection system for electricity users", the wireless internet is still not shortlisted.

"We want to be a regular army and do business directly with them, so there's only one way--get a pilot." "In early 2009, the development of the unit network technology to come to an ending, Hangzhou home and quickly find the National grid, in Ningxia, a combination of urban and rural applications to the pilot." This is the designated pilot area of the National Grid, where several power carrier technology companies are also experimenting with smart meter reading.

The state Grid will have more than 500 meters of the area to the Hangzhou home and, while the other several pilots have fewer than 100. Founder Ping has sent seven or eight colleagues in the past to implement. As a result of Hangzhou's home and product characteristics of "low-power, large-scale, strong diffraction capacity", and intelligent meter reading requirements match, Fang Zhenping finally touched the other side. Over the past 2009 years, the regulations of the State grid have been supplemented by wireless sensor networks. "Got the State grid Zhongsheng, relieved, finally feel, find the right direction." ”

After the wireless sensor network entered the regular army, the pattern of intelligent meter reading began to change, the power carrier technology as the leading technology, wireless sensor network as the auxiliary. Because wireless sensor networks and carriers need to embed their own modules into the meter to use, the state power grid regulations are added to the regulation of the two technologies are identical module shape. "Even the size of the module is unified, which means that if the carrier does not work, the wireless sensor network immediately mounted." "It makes Fang Zhenping very happy.

        "Wireless technology does enable smart meter reading. "Zhao is in 2005 to become China's meter reading industry standard-setting association," in China, 470~500 frequency is free to use wireless, but the need from the network, Wireless sensor network is to seize the opportunity to use sensors to achieve. This model is slightly higher than the average carrier rate, but is susceptible to environmental problems. It's not surprising that many companies are switching to wireless under the carrier puzzle. The