CEO Interview | Integrated Computing and Control: The Inevitable Path of China's Industrial Intelligence Upgrade

 

Developing advanced manufacturing industry and promoting industrial intelligence in an all-round way is an inevitable choice to accelerate new industrialization and an important path for Chinas industrial manufacturing industry to move towards the middle and high end.

 

Intelligent manufacturing and industrial Internet are based on technology stacks such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. Their common base is industrial control systems, such as industrial computers, controllers, PLCs (programmable logic controllers), etc. However, under the new digital transformation needs, these widely used control devices based on traditional architectures have become "blocking points" for processing a large amount of real-time data and realizing data exchange and real-time control between equipment and between equipment and factories.

 

Not only that, the "upstream" of Chinas industrial manufacturing industry, that is, the industrial general automation market, has long been dominated by foreign brands, and the localization rate is low. If Chinas industrial manufacturing industry wants to move towards new industrialization, it needs to fundamentally "upgrade" and "penetrate" the general automation market with independent technology to achieve industrial upgrading.

 

 

This is a new path. Ma Jun, CEO of SINSEGYE (Shenzhen) Computer System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SINSEGYE"), said in an exclusive interview with China Industry News that the future of (industrial) automation is computerization, and IT is the deep integration of IT and OT, "integration of computing and control".

 

-Industrial control architecture iteration is about to emerge

 

Industrial control system usually refers to the split architecture of upper computer + lower computer, which is composed of industrial computer (industrial computer) and various PLC controllers. Host Computer refers to a computer with calculation and data processing capabilities, which is responsible for the monitoring, instruction issuance, data acquisition, processing and analysis, and user interaction of the whole control system. The lower computer (Slave Device) is a device or controller directly connected to sensors, actuators and other hardware in the control system.

 

The hardware of the upper computer usually includes personal computers, industrial PCs or servers, and they exchange data with the lower computer through various communication interfaces. The lower computer is usually responsible for executing the control instructions (tasks) of the upper computer, such as the output of switch signals, the adjustment of analog quantities, data acquisition, etc. Over the years, the upper computer + lower computer architecture has supported the rapid development of modern industry.

 

At the same time, a new architecture has gradually developed with the advent of PC. In 1986, Beckhoff, a well-known enterprise in the field of industrial control, launched the worlds first PC architecture (a computer architecture) control system. Beckhoffs philosophy is that "all work is done by software on one platform". Along this main line, Beckhoff, Austrian Belley, Bachmann, etc. have developed into leaders in PC-based industrial control systems.

 

The PC-based industrial control system is to "move" the industrial field host computer and its complex applications, including human-computer interaction software (HMI), AI algorithms, host computer-specific software, databases, etc., to computers with stronger computing power. At the same time, the control programs running in lower computers such as PLC, motion controller and motion control card are also "moved" to the computer. Through software control, a computing platform runs.

 

Today, two architectures of industrial control systems exist at the same time, but they form a pattern of "one company dominates" in the traditional split architecture. Nevertheless, on the one hand, PC-based industrial control systems have taken advantage in some industries and scenarios such as new energy; On the other hand, new opportunities have emerged, which is the development and application of new technologies.

 

At present, with the development of new technologies such as the Internet, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, and the in-depth application of industrial vision, industrial robots, etc., people, machines, materials, methods, and environments are fully connected. Industrial sites are becoming more and more complex, and the amount of data The sharp increase puts forward higher requirements for the computing power and control capabilities of control systems. The traditional architecture can no longer meet the data interaction and real-time control needs of industrial equipment. Even if the computing power of industrial computers is improved, it cannot solve the system complexity and real-time problems.

 

On the demand side, the architectural iteration of industrial control systems has begun to reach a turning point.

 

-Localization of high-end control systems is imminent

 

The industrial control system comprehensively uses control theory, instrumentation, computers and other information technologies to realize the detection, control, optimization, scheduling, management and decision-making of the industrial production process, so as to achieve stability, safety, cost reduction, quality improvement, efficiency increase, consumption reduction and other purposes, and its realization requires the coordinated operation of software, hardware, systems, etc.

 

From the perspective of industrial chain, industrial manufacturing can be divided into "upstream", "midstream" and downstream. The upstream is the industrial control system, including industrial computing equipment such as industrial computers, PLC controllers, IO equipment, servo products, etc. They are the core of the industrial system. The midstream refers to various production equipment and equipment, such as general machinery, 3C electronic equipment, photovoltaic equipment, and lithium battery equipment manufacturing. Downstream is the factory.

 

If industrial automation is the cornerstone of modern industry, then industrial control system is the pillar of modern industry. Unfortunately, China has been a major manufacturing country in the world for 11 consecutive years, but its industrial general automation industry has poor independent capabilities and its upstream industry is very weak. Especially in mid-to-high-end manufacturing scenarios, the localization rate of industrial control systems is low.

 

According to the "PC control" ranking of global automation companies, there are no Chinese companies in the top 50. Leading companies such as Siemens, Emerson, ABB, Schneider, Rockwell, Honeywell, etc. are basically distributed in the United States, Germany, Austria, Japan, the United Kingdom and other European and American regions.

 

In China, there are few upstream listed companies with independent technologies and products. Inovance Technology, Zhejiang University SUPCON, Baichu Electronics, as well as Leisai Intelligent, Dongtu Technology, Hollysys, Hechuan Technology, Xinjie Electric, etc., most of these companies are vertical in industries. In mid-to-high-end manufacturing scenarios, there is a big gap between my countrys industrial control system companies and foreign brands.

 

In addition, from the perspective of technical routes and products, looking at China, there are many manufacturers that provide general industrial automation products based on traditional architectures, but few companies are involved in industrial control systems based on PC and software definitions.

 

Ning Zhenbo, former chief consultant of the Information Technology Center of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, has repeatedly pointed out that Chinas intelligent manufacturing is "short of core and soul", which refers to the lack of independent chips and industrial software. Without an independent industrial control system, industry has no "brain". Chinas industrial manufacturing industry wants to move towards the middle and high end, and the localization of industrial control, especially high-end industrial control systems, is imminent.

 

-Integration of computing and control: SINSEGYE changes lanes and breaks through

 

In 2022, SINSEGYE launched its first industrial intelligent computer ("iComputer") product, which quickly gained market recognition with its unique concept and technical route of integrating computing and control. Two years later, the companys products have expanded to rack-mounted, embedded and other types.

 

According to reports, compared with the traditional combination of upper computer + lower computer, "iComputer" combines calculation and control. Through a set of controllers with a set of software and a set of programs, it can simultaneously have motion control, logic control, machine vision, configuration display and other functions, which can make industrial control equipment better adapt to complex and changeable production environments, and have higher real-time performance and scalability of computing power.

 

"iComputer" not only effectively solves the integration problem between OT and IT, but also has the ability to solve the key problems of traditional industrial control, such as unmet large computing power requirements, mutual interference of programs, high cost and insufficient reliability.

 

Ma Jun told a reporter from China Industry News that the integration of computing and control has brought four major benefits: First, the hardware cost of industrial computing has been greatly reduced; Second, the operating performance of the system has been greatly improved; Third, an IDE environment (integrated development environment) realizes mixed programming, and the programming efficiency is greatly improved; Fourth, the PC architecture can make the control program run faster and have lower jitter, which makes the mechanical manufacturing more stable and is conducive to the realization of high-end manufacturing.

 

The "iComputer" technology originated from the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Based on the research and development of national key industries and major topics, it gave birth to the technical system of industrial intelligent computer + software definition, transforming the current industrial computing market structure dominated by traditional PLC, motion controller, industrial computer and edge server.

 

"Change lanes and overtake". This technical system has also become a firm technical route in the SINSEGYE. Thanks to the years of painstaking efforts invested by the Institute of Computing Technology , Chinese Academy of Sciences, this accumulation has also given SINSEGYE the foundation and confidence to industrialize technology.

 

It is reported that the first "iComputer" in SINSEGYE uses Haiguang x86 CPU and Cambrian GPU, both incubated by the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Facing the future, the company will make the whole line of products 100% localized, breaking the long-standing "stuck neck" dilemma of high-end industrial computing equipment.

 

-"The end of traditional industrial automation"

 

For enterprises, it is sometimes not difficult to see the general trend clearly and choose the track. The difficulty lies in how to establish their own core advantages, truly implement the best products, technologies, and services, win customers, and be recognized by the capital market.

 

SINSEGYE is located in the upstream of industrial manufacturing, which is a very large track, and the upstream of industry is important enough to be the foundation of new industrialization. The industrial control system is moving towards computerization, which will be a huge opportunity for industrial transition. For example, cloud computing, smart phones, and smart cars, their computerization reflects the distinctive characteristics of industrial transition.

 

According to the data, in a hot ranking of entrepreneurial projects (companies), SINSEGYE ranks in the forefront. In the past two years, the company has completed a total of over 300 million yuan in Series A and Series A financing, which illustrates the capital markets recognition of the companys development direction and vision.

 

The growth of the new architecture is strong. Ma Jun pointed out that in the new market, the share of PC architecture is about 20%, and it is still rising. At present, the products of Zhongke Times have received batch orders from benchmark customers in advanced manufacturing (semiconductor, laser, 3C electronics), new energy (photovoltaic, wind power), process industry (petroleum, steel) and other industries.

 

At present, software-defined industrial control has become a key issue in the industry. Roland Busch, global CEO of Siemens, a representative company of traditional architecture, once said that there are four major directions for the transformation and upgrading of industrial manufacturing, the first of which is software-defined PLC. Siemens has started its transformation, and one of its directions is software.

 

With the advancement of intelligent manufacturing and industrial Internet, connection and integration are restructuring industrial digitalization and intelligence, and business restructuring, industrial restructuring, and value restructuring continue one after another. From top to bottom, from business to management to workshops to production lines, data-driven industrial manufacturing upgrades will inevitably face the transformation of the industrial control layer. The integration of IT and OT is an inevitable choice for industry to move towards intelligence.

 

"This will be the end of traditional industrial automation," Ma Jun said.