The grid is a breakthrough for plastic optical fiber applications

Hu Guoxiang, general manager of Nanjing Yueng Instrument Co., Ltd. ("Yueng") recently said in an interview: "At present, apart from lighting, plastic optical fiber is not mature in communications and telecommunications. Plastic optical fiber application breakthroughs firstly select the smart grid, especially It is a breakthrough in high-voltage electrical parameter acquisition, high-voltage line video monitoring, power sensor technology, smart meter power information acquisition, and other projects. Second, there are breakthroughs in radio and television projects, telecommunications projects, and Internet of Things projects.”

Reporter: At present, what is the status quo of China's plastic optical fiber development? How many enterprises do the domestic plastic optical fiber enterprises really have? Hu Guoxiang: The current status of China's current development of plastic optical fiber is mainly reflected in three aspects. First, the application of plastic optical fiber standards, industry alliances, product development and application of the guidance of the lack of guidance, lack of communication, market-oriented issues are not clear. These problems have brought about great blindness in investment, and have also led to the current situation of “knowing that the future is a good project, but currently there is no market without benefit”. The second is that plastic raw material technology, fiber-making and cable technology, and optical device development and manufacturing technologies are relatively backward, and they still need to be developed in cooperation with overseas companies to introduce, digest, and absorb. Third, there is no real "scale enterprise". In particular, the communications and communications plastic optical fiber and optical device market is still small. The entire market scale is still less than 1 billion yuan.

Reporter: Plastic optical fiber has been developing in China for more than 10 years. Why can't we get scale application today? What issues need to be solved for large-scale application? Hu Guoxiang: Although plastic optical fiber has a 10-year history of development in China, it is currently in China. The understanding of plastic optical fiber is still insufficient, especially in technical engineering design. The understanding of the design and application of optical devices is also insufficient, which has caused a serious disconnect between plastic optical fibers and optical devices and the market, which is also the main reason for the inability to scale applications. To scale applications, we must first absorb the technology of absorbing plastic optical fibers and optical devices. For example, we can introduce foreign advanced technologies to digest and absorb; second, we must promote industrialization, especially in the fields of automobile, electric power, home management, and internet of things. The formation of market size, and this market size should be more than 100 billion market size.

Reporter: Some experts believe that the reason why plastic optical fiber has not been widely promoted and applied is that the most important is the lack of innovative business models. In your opinion, what kind of business model is needed to scale up plastic optical fiber? Hu Guoxiang: The commercialization model is easy to implement under the premise of perfect standards and relatively satisfactory technologies.

An advanced network physical architecture is a new industry encouraged by the Chinese government and is also required by all walks of life.

The essence of the third industrial revolution is to change the direction of development of the entire industry with networked technologies and new energy industries. Plastic optical fibers and optical devices are important links in networked technologies. I believe it will be widely used in power, telecommunications, radio and television, and the Internet of Things. The coordination of plastic optical fibers, optical device industry alliances, industry associations and other organizations is the key to scale promotion.

Reporter: What advantages does Yueneng have in plastic optical fiber? Hu Guoxiang: Yuneng has signed strategic cooperation agreements with foreign institutions and enterprises to introduce and digest foreign advanced plastic optical fiber industrialization technologies. In plastic optical fiber and optical fiber cable, it will form an industrial technology and scale that reaches the advanced level of similar international products. Yuneng jointly developed a single-axis bidirectional optical device with China Optical Power Research Institute and a foreign R&D institution. The device has MCU function and can be used with a single optical fiber. The longest distance can reach 300 meters and the bandwidth is 125 MHz. The device has applied for domestic and foreign patents and has been controlled and used by the Chinese side in terms of intellectual property rights. This technology has been successfully applied in the power information system.