my country has proposed the "Sensing China" strategy, officially elevating the Internet of Things (IoT) to one of the five strategic emerging industries that the country will focus on developing.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network that enables objects to communicate and exchange information according to agreed protocols, achieving interconnection and interoperability between objects, as well as intelligent identification, positioning, tracking, monitoring, and management.
Based on the different functions they perform, the Internet of Things (IoT) architecture can be divided into four layers: the identification layer, the sensing layer, the transmission layer, and the application layer.
The identification layer is for acquiring the identity information of an object, and its core component is RFID; the perception layer is for acquiring the static and dynamic information of an object through various sensing terminal devices, and its core component is a sensor; the transmission layer is for realizing the communication and exchange of information, and its core component is a wireless data communication network; the application layer is for realizing the identification and feedback of information, and its core component is a smart chip.
The four-layer infrastructure of the Internet of Things
Currently, the Internet of Things (IoT) is developing rapidly, but many concepts, technologies, and standards are still under exploration. Therefore, possessing core independent intellectual property rights and developing core technologies and standards has become crucial for countries around the world to seize the commanding heights of the IoT industry.
Since 1999, my country has launched research on the Internet of Things (IoT) and has made significant progress in wireless intelligent sensor network communication technology, micro sensors, sensors, and mobile base stations. It now has a complete industrial chain from materials, technology, devices, systems to networks, and is one of the few countries in the world that can realize the industrialization of IoT and one of the leading countries in the formulation of international standards.
For the Internet of Things (IoT) to "sense" objects, the issue of measurement arises, thus making metrology indispensable. Metrological standards therefore form a crucial component of the IoT standard system. For the IoT, metrological standards primarily focus on two aspects: first, the establishment of a metrological standard system for the four core components of the IoT; and second, the establishment of a metrological standard system for IoT applications in the field of metrological testing technology.
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Construction of a metrological standard system for the four core components of the Internet of Things
1. Lack of standardized core components for the Internet of Things
For the Internet of Things (IoT), the standardization of technologies and standards for the core components across the four layers of identification, sensing, transmission, and application is the cornerstone of its development.
Currently, RFID, sensors, wireless data communication networks, and smart chips are all mature technologies, each with its own standards. For example, in the field of RFID, there are international standards issued by five major international RFID standardization organizations: EPCglobal (Global Electronic Product Code Management Center), Algglobal (Global Automatic Identification Organization), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), and UID (Ubiquitous Technology Core Organization). There are also domestic standards issued by the RFID Standardization Working Group established under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China.
In the field of sensors, due to the large number of disciplines involved, they have long been developed independently within each discipline, resulting in significantly different measurement, testing, and performance evaluation standards for sensors with different parameters.
In the field of wireless data communication networks, there are various wireless communication standards and protocols, such as Bluetooth, WLAN, 4G, 5G, NB-IoT, and wireless ad hoc networks. The 3G standard alone can be further divided into four major wireless interface standards: WCDMA (European version), CDRA2000 (US version), TD-SCDMA (China version), and WiMAX. The first three standards are currently used simultaneously in my country.
In the field of smart chips, the diversity of standards is even more extensive.
However, applying these mature standards to the Internet of Things (IoT) presents numerous challenges. This is because the IoT requires unified technologies and standards across its various architecture layers to enable connectivity between things. Just as the internet effectively solved standardization issues globally regarding unified TCP/IP transmission protocols, router protocols, terminal architecture, and operating systems to reach its current level of development, the IoT, lacking a unified national and international standards system, will inevitably suffer from inherent incompatibility issues with standards developed or adopted by individual companies and industries. This will result in numerous small, dedicated networks that cannot connect, merge, or interconnect, hindering economies of scale, establishing a complete business operation model, and ultimately preventing widespread public adoption.
2. Construction of a metrological standard system for core components
In the construction of the four-layer core component standard system for the Internet of Things (IoT), metrology plays a crucial role in establishing a complete system of measurement and evaluation standards. This system comprehensively measures various parameters of core components such as RFID, sensors, wireless data communication networks, and smart chips, conducts comprehensive testing of the adopted protocols, and evaluates the reliability and accuracy of the entire system. The goal is to create complete metrological testing technical standards and specifications, providing metrological assurance for the comprehensive deployment of the IoT.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is not an independent product, nor can it be developed by a single enterprise or industry. It involves all sectors of society and requires the integration of resources from multiple sources. This necessitates the support of national industrial policies and the leadership of administrative departments. Based on the actual situation of my country's social and economic development, it is necessary to integrate existing standards in the fields of RFID, sensors, wireless data communication networks, and smart chips to form core standards with independent intellectual property rights. Only in this way can we seize the commanding heights in the wave of IoT development and gain international influence.
Establishment of a Standard System for IoT Applications in Metrology and Testing
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1. The challenges faced by the metrology and testing industry
In the field of metrology, measuring instruments used in operations are characterized by periodic verification/calibration. For measuring instruments subject to mandatory national management, re-verification must be carried out according to the statutory cycle; for measuring instruments not subject to mandatory management, the user unit may carry out re-verification according to the statutory metrological cycle or a cycle determined by the enterprise itself.
Each measuring instrument often requires several to dozens of metrological verifications within its effective service life. Furthermore, working measuring instruments, due to their installation at the usage site and their large size and difficulty in relocation, often require on-site metrological verification services from metrological verification organizations.
The existence of these two situations results in metrological verification agencies having to complete a huge number of on-site metrological tasks every year, which leads to the following four problems:
(1) Metrological verification personnel spend a lot of time traveling, which greatly reduces work efficiency and leads to the dilemma of not having enough time to complete metrological verification tasks and not being able to reasonably arrange effective working time;
(2) On-site verification requires carrying metrological standards and other working equipment. Due to considerations of the stability, accuracy, and safety of metrological standards, convenient transportation methods such as shipping and express delivery are not feasible, and they must be carried by hand. This results in metrological verification personnel having to carry a large amount of instruments and equipment every time they go out, increasing their workload;
(3) The objects to be verified are scattered throughout the country, and each group of verification personnel needs to carry their own equipment. Therefore, the metrological verification institution must be equipped with a certain number of the same metrological standards. This not only increases the operating cost pressure of the metrological verification institution, but also makes it difficult to use the equipment rationally, resulting in a waste of resources and a series of problems such as equipment management, maintenance and depreciation.
(4) The fees for metrological verification services include the travel expenses of the metrological verification personnel. Sometimes, the verification fee for the measuring instruments alone is far less than the travel expenses. This increases the economic burden on enterprises and leads to the phenomenon of "not wanting to verify, being unwilling to verify, and evading verification" among enterprises.
2. The significance of IoT applications in the field of metrology and testing
As is well known, measuring instruments are tools for measuring and weighing, and the accuracy and reliability of their instruments and equipment directly affect the accuracy of the measured parameters.
In the four areas of trade settlement, healthcare, safety protection, and environmental monitoring, measuring instruments are directly related to major issues such as national economy, people's livelihood, personal safety, and social stability. The Metrology Law clearly stipulates that mandatory periodic metrology must be carried out. However, under the current regulatory system, the verification of measuring instruments relies more on the voluntary participation of enterprises, and government functional departments and relevant metrology verification institutions lack effective regulatory measures and means to supervise the measuring instruments used by enterprises.
The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has helped solve this problem. Applying IoT technology to the field of metrology and testing has the following advantages:
(1) Dynamic tracking and supervision of the use of measuring instruments subject to mandatory verification. This breaks through the limitations of time, region, and personnel, and is conducive to the implementation of laws and regulations on the mandatory management of measuring instruments;
(2) Real-time collection of information such as the performance and parameters of measuring instruments can fundamentally change the traditional verification mode of predetermined cycle, which is conducive to realizing dynamic management of working measuring instruments, forming a scientific verification mode of pre-quality management, effectively avoiding the mismatch between the agreed verification cycle and the quality status of measuring instruments, saving operating costs for enterprises, and improving the efficiency of measuring instruments;
(3) It is conducive to the intensive management of measuring instruments, promotes the development of the outsourcing service model of measuring instruments, and forms a working model in which metrology and testing institutions provide one-stop services to enterprises, allowing enterprises to devote more energy to their main business.
3. Construction of the standard system in the field of metrology and testing
In the process of metrological testing services, the core technical means is measurement value comparison, and the core concept is measurement value traceability.
According to current metrological testing technical standards, metrological testing institutions must use metrological standard instruments that are at least one order of magnitude higher than the measuring instruments used by enterprises for on-site measurement comparisons. The metrological standard instruments of the metrological testing institution must then be compared with the next higher-level metrological standard instruments, or national or international metrological standards. The entire comparison chain must meet the principle of traceability. Therefore, the legal basis for current metrological testing technical references, namely metrological verification procedures and metrological calibration specifications, are all based on this.
The Internet of Things (IoT) transcends the limitations of time and space, enabling interconnection and interoperability between working measuring instruments and metrological standards, eliminating the need for on-site comparisons. As a result, some provisions of existing metrological verification procedures and calibration specifications become clearly inapplicable, and they lack guiding operational clauses. In particular, the issue of traceability of measurement values within the metrological standards system becomes especially crucial.
The following example of gauge block metrological testing illustrates the above issues. According to current metrological verification procedures and calibration specifications, comparing the working gauge block with the standard gauge block on-site yields the testing conclusion for the working gauge block. In the metrological Internet of Things (IoT), the working gauge block is located at the enterprise site, while the standard gauge block is located within the metrological testing institution. First, the parameters of the working gauge block must be read using a measuring device, then transmitted to the metrological testing institution for comparison with the parameters of the standard gauge block. This operational process is not reflected in current metrological standards, thus providing no operational guidance for verification personnel. More importantly, obtaining the parameters of the working gauge block and the standard gauge block involves the accuracy and reliability of traceability, requiring relevant metrological standards for support.
In the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the core components of the four layers—identification, sensing, transmission, and application—including RFID, sensors, wireless data communication networks, and smart chips, all involve the issue of how to accurately and reliably obtain and evaluate measurement values. This needs to be clearly defined in relevant metrological standards. At the same time, the current standards for these four core components are inconsistent, leading to a lack of standardization in the comprehensive realization of the IoT.
The concept and technology of the Internet of Things (IoT) are feasible and necessary in the field of metrology and testing, and can effectively solve the current development bottlenecks in the field. However, due to the significant differences between the cross-regional testing methods of IoT and the existing on-site comparison methods, the existing metrological verification procedures and metrological calibration specifications are clearly insufficient in terms of operational guidance, and the standard system for traceability of metrological values also needs to be reconsidered.
The standards system for the Internet of Things (IoT) is still in a stage of gradual development and is far from mature. Whether it's building a system of metrological standards for core IoT components or for IoT applications in the field of metrology and testing, it's a massive systemic project that cannot be completed by a single enterprise or industry. It requires the support and guidance of national macro-policies, the leadership and coordination of national-level functional departments, and the mobilization of the entire society to pool collective wisdom and effort to complete the construction of the relevant metrology standards system and lay the foundation for the arrival of the IoT era.
