In the era of rapid development of the power IoT, chips have become the core driving force to ensure the efficient operation of power IoT systems and the entire chain, playing a crucial role in the efficient cooperation of all links in the power IoT. In the power industry, Rockchip’s industrial-grade chips have been widely used in various products for data collection and analysis, relay protection, gateways, visual inspection, edge computing, AI deployment, etc., assisting in the rapid intelligent and digital upgrade of power equipment.
SoC Industrial-Grade Chips
Assist Power Industry Data Collection + System Control
Data collection and analysis, as well as control, are traditional key areas in the intelligent power IoT. By connecting various sensors through interfaces such as RS485, CAN, and Ethernet, and combining strong CPU processing capabilities, timely analysis and processing of data from distribution transformers and terminal electricity usage can effectively achieve: Electricity monitoring, tiered pricing, load management, line loss analysis, ultimately reaching goals such as automatic meter reading, peak-shifting electricity usage, electricity inspections (anti-theft), load forecasting, and saving electricity costs.
Rockchip has launched industrial-grade chips (-40-85℃) applicable to data collection and distribution management system terminal applications: RK3358J and RK3568J:
The RK3358J industrial-grade chip is aimed at concentrators, collectors, energy controllers, integrated terminals, and other intelligent terminals, featuring high performance, low power consumption, and low temperature rise, using a 28nm quad-core A35 architecture, with a chip computing capability of up to 10K DMIPS. Compared to the traditional 40nm quad-core A7 chip, the RK3358J has an overall performance improvement of about 40% at the same frequency while reducing power consumption by 10%, with lower temperature rise during long-term operation, providing higher reliability.
Figure | Schematic of Concentrators, Energy Controllers, Relay Protection Devices
In relay protection, gateways, carrier communication, TTU, and other applications terminals, the RK3568J industrial-grade chip adopts a 22nm quad-core A55 architecture, with processing capabilities of over 15K DMIPS; it has a built-in 1T computing NPU, strong edge computing capabilities; and offers a rich set of peripheral interfaces, such as: supporting 10 UART channels, 3 CAN channels, and 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, without the need for expansion chips to meet the data access of many different devices, and supports 3 PCIe, facilitating the expansion of FPGA, 5G, and Ethernet ports.
Machine Vision Chips Assist Power Safety Protection + Visual Inspection
The power industry has strict requirements for production and operational safety. In the stage of power intelligence, using AI machine vision chips can effectively enhance the safety level of distribution facilities. By using smart hardware devices such as sensors, cameras, and battery-operated cameras, environmental data can be collected to achieve: Temperature/humidity control, facial recognition, smoke monitoring, fire alarms, smart fire protection for power grids, etc.
Figure | Schematic of Unmanned Inspection of Power Grid Towers
Aimed at smart security and visual inspection applications, Rockchip has launched the RV1126K (-40~85℃) chip, which uses advanced processes, with high performance and low power consumption characteristics, meeting the needs of various scenarios for power security devices. It can provide high-performance security-grade ISP, supporting multi-level noise reduction, and can achieve full-color shooting in low light; it has a built-in independent 2T NPU computing unit, supporting scene-based intelligent algorithms for forest fire detection, abnormal wire detection, etc., and can be widely used in scenarios such as server rooms, power plants, and power grid security monitoring, behavior analysis, etc.
Edge Computing and AI Deployment to Bridge the Last Mile of Power IoT
The power industry has a vast array of devices, such as electric meters, various protection, collection, and control devices. Facing a series of comprehensive issues such as distributed generation, energy storage, and user microgrids, edge computing and AI deployment can meet the demand for efficient utilization of “localization at the edge,” assisting in improving operational efficiency in the last mile.
Rockchip RK3588J and RK1808K have built-in independent NPUs, high computing power, and rich interface expansion capabilities, allowing for quick setup of AI applications in various scenarios, efficiently optimizing terminal data processing, providing performance support for data collection and analysis, and data system management, effectively reducing the pressure on local servers.
The RK3588J uses an 8nm 64-bit ultra-high-performance CPU, with a computing capability of 93K DMIPS, 6 Tops NPU, supporting 8K video encoding and decoding, RKNN-Toolkit suite, and OP operators.
The RK1808K also has a built-in independent NPU, with a computing power of 3.0 Tops, supporting Rock-X AI development components, facilitating rapid deployment of AI applications.
Rockchip’s Four Software Guarantees to Protect Power IoT Terminal Security
The security and stability of the power IoT are of utmost importance, such as reading control, privacy protection, user authentication, non-repudiation, data confidentiality, communication layer security, etc.
For the power grid, in addition to data security, there are also very high requirements for software real-time performance and stability. In terms of system platform software guarantees, it is mainly reflected in the following four aspects:
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Support for embedded systems and AMP forms, including various combinations such as bare metal systems, bare metal systems + RTOS, bare metal systems + Linux, bare metal systems + RTOS + Linux, etc.;
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Real-time performance, capable of achieving microsecond-level timers, GPIO interrupts, task scheduling responses;
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Support for multiple OS, with adaptations for Android, Linux, and domestic OS such as Tongxin, Kirin, Yihui, Kedong, etc.;
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Powerful security, supporting national secret level, regularly integrating CVE security vulnerability patches, supporting disk encryption to ensure data security from theft, firmware encryption and rollback prevention, full-link secure boot to prevent firmware tampering, hardware isolation mechanisms based on Trustzone, OPTEE to achieve trusted authorization and data access, hardware encryption modules supporting hash, AES, RSA, SM4, and other encryption algorithms, supporting secure OTP to achieve storage and protection of sensitive data such as keys.
Currently, Chinese power enterprises are facing multiple challenges such as complex power grid forms and digitalization. Rockchip’s series of power application chips empower traditional power grids with digital technology, assisting power enterprises in enhancing perception capabilities, interaction levels, and operational efficiency, and strengthening the intelligent construction of power enterprises.