Optical fiber sensors serve as the "nerve endings" of smart city construction, enabling infrastructure such as underground utility tunnels and bridges to "speak." Recently, Yao Penghui and his technical team have been advancing smart monitoring of natural gas pipeline operations in the Xiong'an New Area.
Yao Penghui is the head of the Optical Fiber Sensing Laboratory at the Hebei Center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei National Technology Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as "Guochuang Hebei Center"). He leads a team that has achieved multiple key breakthroughs in the field of cutting-edge optical fiber sensing. Since the Guochuang Hebei Center Innovation Port officially began operations on June 30 this year, the Optical Fiber Sensing Laboratory has already empowered the industrialization projects of multiple resident enterprises.
Huayichangneng (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. is a company focused on new-type power systems and optical fiber sensing monitoring. Previously, the company had struggled to find research talent in the field of optical fiber sensing monitoring. After moving into the Innovation Port, the company and the Optical Fiber Sensing Laboratory achieved a two-way collaboration.
"The laboratory has elevated the company's R&D capabilities to a new level. We can now focus all our energy on transforming scientific and technological achievements, and more effectively invest in market applications," said Gao Yang, Chairman of Huayichangneng. Currently, the company is utilizing optical polarization analysis and distributed optical fiber sensing technology to advance the industrialization of projects such as wind turbine blade bending deformation monitoring and health status assessment, as well as cable fault location detection, providing smart monitoring solutions for the safe operation of energy infrastructure.
Seizing the opportunity of the expansion of the Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) International Science and Technology Innovation Center and leveraging Shijiazhuang's role as an important pivot point, the Hebei Academy of Sciences and the Shijiazhuang High-tech Zone jointly built the Guochuang Hebei Center Innovation Port. "The Innovation Port is positioned as a comprehensive innovation complex with all essential elements, building a new industry-research collaboration model. Relying on four major R&D platforms—optical fiber sensing, industrial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and embodied intelligence—it aims to cultivate four major innovation ecosystems: robotics, AI+, new materials, and industry-education integration," introduced Hao Cunming, head of the Innovation Port. As of now, the Innovation Port has signed and settled more than 30 enterprises and projects, with Beijing-Tianjin projects accounting for over 60%.
The Innovation Port is unleashing a synergistic effect for innovative development, effectively promoting better integration of Beijing-Tianjin science and technology innovation projects with the province's industrial application scenarios. Recognizing Shijiazhuang's opportunity to accelerate the cultivation of a hundred-billion-yuan biomedicine industry cluster, Beijing Li'an Jiuzhou Technology Co., Ltd. brought its rehabilitation robot project to settle in the Innovation Port. "The rehabilitation robot project originated from the R&D team at Beihang University. The product has already been promoted and applied in the rehabilitation departments of provincial-level tertiary hospitals in Shijiazhuang. Backend data shows that each machine is used more than 500 times per month on average," introduced Sun Guangyao, General Manager of Li'an Jiuzhou.
The rehabilitation robots developed and manufactured by Li'an Jiuzhou target patients with hemiplegia who need rehabilitation training. They integrate technologies such as age-friendly intelligent interaction, flexible transmission, and health big data monitoring, providing patients with smart rehabilitation and life solutions through passive movement, active movement, and assisted movement training. The project has obtained a Class II medical device registration certificate. Currently, the company's R&D is in Beijing, while its production base and sales center are in Shijiazhuang. "We have built a production base of over a thousand square meters in Shijiazhuang, forming three production lines for medical rehabilitation, elderly mobility assistance, and home rehabilitation, with an annual capacity of 7,000 units. All product components come from Shijiazhuang," said Sun Guangyao. Since settling in the Innovation Port, the company's sales revenue has been climbing steadily, with products sold to Hebei, Henan, the three northeastern provinces, and other regions. The company has also jointly undertaken key science and technology projects with the Hebei Academy of Sciences and the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University.
"Combining industry types with functional needs, the Innovation Port has created a vertical and specialized industrial space system, building a full-chain industrial ecosystem covering R&D, pilot-scale transformation, and industrialization implementation," said Hao Cunming. This place brings together technology, talent, and scenarios. It includes not only the Optical Fiber Sensing Laboratory and the Embodied Intelligence R&D Center, which focus on technology research and development, but also the Hebei Pilot-Scale Public Service Center and the Hebei Mechatronics Pilot-Scale Base, as well as enterprises with clear industry positioning. Everything is within reach of one another—scientific and technological achievements can be transformed without even leaving the building.
Recently, a quadruped inspection robot dog jointly developed by resident enterprise Hebei Guochuang Embodied Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. and Huayichangneng entered the testing phase. "Guochuang Embodied Intelligence is responsible for algorithm design, while Huayichangneng provides application scenarios and technical requirements. The product can replace manual labor in high-risk scenarios, accurately identifying temperature and pressure anomalies of equipment and completing inspection work," introduced Li Zhongyi, General Manager of Guochuang Embodied Intelligence. For this robot dog, it took less than two months from the initial idea to producing a prototype.
"The Innovation Port will serve as a sensor for industry needs, a receiver for innovation resources, and a propeller for achievement transformation, empowering industrial clustering with a full-chain service model and helping enterprises expand markets and application scenarios," said Hao Cunming. He emphasized the need to continue efforts in landing and transforming scientific and technological achievements, attracting more high-quality Beijing-Tianjin science and technology innovation projects to conduct pilot-scale testing and transformation in Hebei, injecting strong new momentum into Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei collaborative innovation and industrial cooperation.