Sensors Become Key to the Sustainability of the Internet of Things  Sensor Application Network Author: In mid-September, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) website officially released the "Notice on Issuing 10 Special Action Plans for the Development of the Internet of Things." The notice, jointly issued by 14 government departments, proposed 10 special action plans including top-level design, standard setting, technology research and development, application promotion, industrial support, business models, security guarantees, government support measures, legal and regulatory guarantees, and talent training, and clarified the leading departments across ministries.

The notice, jointly issued by multiple ministries, comprehensively considered the civil-military coordination mechanism and information security guarantee work. The technology research and development special action plan is led by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and proposes to complete the project initiation of key technologies by the end of this year. It is worth noting that this round of IoT special actions adopted a more open attitude, even proposing attracting international technology and talent resources to improve information security research and development and production capabilities as a guarantee measure. In November 2009, the State Council agreed to establish a national sensor network innovation demonstration zone in Wuxi and established an inter-ministerial coordination leading group composed of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, relevant ministries, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Jiangsu Province.

It is estimated that the concept of the Internet of Things will only last until next year in Wuxi! Li Hao (pseudonym), a middle-level technical staff member at the China Internet of Things Research and Development Center in Wuxi, has been secretly looking for new job opportunities, undoubtedly revealing the current situation of the Wuxi National Sensor Network Innovation Demonstration Zone to the outside world.

As an important part of the new generation of information technology industries, the Internet of Things and cloud computing have been booming in various regions since 2010. However, unlike the NDRC's selection of five cities as demonstration application points for cloud computing, the Internet of Things was once a special honor for Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. The previous central government hoped to build it into the center of "Perceiving China." However, unlike many second- and third-tier cities that enthusiastically imitated Wuxi's approach to developing the Internet of Things (IoT) during the concept boom of previous years, first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai remained relatively calm. As the two cities tasked with leading the development of the integrated circuit industry for the country, they were well aware of China's weak foundation in this field. While there were some products and achievements in digital technology, the country had almost no capabilities in analog sensor technology, especially in high-performance sensors for equipment manufacturing, which were almost entirely imported from abroad.

Sensors represent the key gap between China and the US, Europe, and Japan in the field of IoT sensing. But if China can't even produce traditional industrial sensors well, how can it succeed with emerging IoT smart sensors? Several domestic industry professionals asked this question to a reporter from China Business News with a dismissive tone. Even in smart grids, the closest application of the IoT concept, the smart meter solutions procured by the State Grid Corporation of China during the pilot phase all came from large companies in the US, Japan, and Europe. The chips in electricity meters are actually quite complex; although they all function, their accuracy varies significantly. Many domestic meter chip manufacturers simply reverse-engineer and imitate foreign models at a low level, selling them cheaply to rural power grids. Several people in the power industry also confirmed to the reporter the actual level of domestic analog integrated circuit technology.  The Ministry of Science and Technology has continuously established projects through the 863 Program to develop high-performance sensors for automotive and industrial process control fields. The 11th Five-Year Plan's major national science and technology project also established projects from 2008 onwards to develop A/D and D/A analog technology IP cores. However, these technological achievements, even after passing acceptance tests, remain at the prototype stage and have not successfully entered the product or market stages.