Digital Transformation in the Power Industry: How 4G Modems and LTE Modems Reshape the New Landscape of Smart Power
Driven by the "dual carbon" goals, China's power industry is undergoing a profound transformation from a traditional energy system to a new-type power system. By 2025, the automation coverage rate of the national distribution network has exceeded 85%. However, traditional wired communication methods have exposed pain points such as high construction costs and long deployment cycles in scenarios like remote mountainous areas and distributed energy access. Against this backdrop, LTE modem devices based on 4G networks are becoming core components of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) construction in the power industry, leveraging their unique communication advantages.
Traditional power communication relies on dedicated fiber-optic networks or power line carrier waves. In geographically complex regions such as the Nujiang Canyon in Yunnan and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the cost of laying optical fiber can reach tens of thousands of yuan per kilometer, with construction periods extending for months. By reusing public network resources from operators, 4G modems enable "plug-and-play" device deployment. In a rural power grid renovation project in Bijie, Guizhou, the adoption of the PUSR brand's USR-G786 model 4G modem achieved communication coverage for 300 distribution areas in just seven days, saving 82% of deployment time compared to traditional solutions.
This device supports seven-mode universal network compatibility (2G/3G/4G for China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom). Field tests in the Naqu region of Tibet, at an altitude of 4,500 meters, demonstrated that its wide operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C and RS485 surge protection design effectively address industry challenges such as equipment freeze-cracking and electromagnetic interference in high-altitude cold regions.
Modern distribution networks have elevated fault response time requirements from minutes to seconds. The USR-G786's 4G Cat.4 module delivers an uplink rate of 50 Mbps. In field tests conducted in the Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu, the latency from fault occurrence to monitoring center reception remained stable at under 1.2 seconds, representing a 15-fold improvement over GPRS solutions. Its built-in hardware watchdog and data caching mechanism can store up to 1,000 historical data entries during network outages, ensuring automatic resumption of data transmission upon network restoration and guaranteeing zero loss of critical data.
In terms of anti-interference capabilities, the device employs a three-tier protection system: a metal-shielded enclosure to resist external electromagnetic interference, a power isolation module to block ground potential differences, and software CRC checksums to ensure data integrity. In a chemical industrial park in Dongguan, Guangdong, characterized by strong electromagnetic environments, the device operated continuously for 18 months without a single communication interruption incident.
Taking a provincial power grid company as an example, in a renovation project replacing dedicated fiber-optic networks with 4G modems:
Initial Investment: The 4G solution (including three years of data traffic fees) costs 1,200 yuan per unit, while the fiber-optic solution costs 8,500 yuan per unit.
Operational and Maintenance Costs: The 4G solution incurs an annual average maintenance fee of 80 yuan per unit, whereas the fiber-optic solution requires a dedicated optical cable maintenance team, with annual costs reaching 2,300 yuan per unit.
Expansion Costs: When adding new monitoring points, the 4G solution only requires additional device expenses, while the fiber-optic solution necessitates relaying optical cables at a cost exceeding 50,000 yuan per kilometer.
Calculations reveal that when the number of monitoring points exceeds 50, the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the 4G solution is 63% lower than that of the fiber-optic solution. This economic advantage is particularly pronounced in scenarios involving massive device access, such as distributed photovoltaic systems and charging stations.
In the "City Brain·Power" project in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the USR-G786 serves as the core communication module for distribution network Lte modems, enabling real-time collection of 12 types of parameters from 10 kV lines, including current, voltage, and power factor. It uploads data to the dispatching master station via the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol. Its dual-socket transparent transmission function supports simultaneous connections to both the distribution automation system and the electricity consumption information acquisition system, facilitating integrated "multi-purpose" deployment.
Following the system's launch, the fault location time for lines in Xiacheng District, Hangzhou, was reduced from two hours to eight minutes, and the accuracy rate of power outage range predictions increased to 92%. More notably, by analyzing historical data uploaded by the Lte modem, algorithmic models successfully predicted three transformer overload risks, averting direct economic losses exceeding 2 million yuan.
In the ice-coating monitoring system deployed by Inner Mongolia Power Grid along its ultra-high-voltage transmission corridors, the USR-G786 demonstrates exceptional remote transmission capabilities. The device connects to tension sensors, micro-meteorological stations, and other equipment via RS485 interfaces, uploading data on conductor tension, ambient temperature, and humidity every five minutes. Under extreme cold conditions of -35°C, its built-in heating module automatically activates to ensure continuous and stable device operation.
During the winter of 2024, the system issued a 48-hour advance warning of ice-coating risks on the transmission line segment between Baotou and Hohhot. The dispatching department promptly activated de-icing devices, averting a potential tower collapse incident. This case underscores how the real-time data transmission capabilities of 4G modems can shift transmission line operation and maintenance modes from "passive emergency repairs" to "proactive prevention."
In the Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu, the USR-G786 is facilitating the construction of an interactive "source-grid-load-storage" system. The device connects to enterprise photovoltaic inverters, energy storage systems, charging stations, and other equipment via the Modbus protocol, uploading data on power generation, electricity load, and battery state of charge (SOC) to an energy management platform. Based on this data, the platform automatically generates demand response strategies: during peak electricity consumption periods, it dispatches enterprise energy storage systems to discharge and support the power grid; during periods of high photovoltaic power generation, it guides electric vehicles to charge during off-peak hours.
Practical data from an automobile manufacturing enterprise reveals that after integrating into the system, its electricity costs decreased by 18%, while annual subsidy income from participating in grid peak shaving reached 450,000 yuan. This "bidirectional interaction" model represents a key characteristic of new-type power system construction.
The "Digital Twin Transformer" project launched by State Grid Equipment Department achieves comprehensive equipment status awareness by relying on the USR-G786. The device collects 2,000 data points per second through vibration sensors, partial discharge monitors, and other devices. After preprocessing by an edge computing module, the data is uploaded to the cloud via a 4G network. AI algorithms perform time-frequency analysis on this data, enabling the prediction of transformer winding deformation, insulation aging, and other faults three to six months in advance.
During a pilot project in Jinan, Shandong, the system successfully issued early warnings for potential faults in two 220 kV main transformers, averting social and economic losses caused by unplanned outages. More importantly, this data forms equipment health records, providing a scientific basis for condition-based maintenance and technical upgrades, thereby promoting a shift in power equipment management from "scheduled maintenance" to "precision operation and maintenance."
Although 4G modems remain the current mainstream, 5G Lte modems have begun pilot deployments in scenarios such as differential protection and precise load control. Experimental data from a provincial power grid reveals that 5G latency is 80% lower than that of 4G, meeting the operational requirements of differential protection within 20 milliseconds. It is projected that by 2026, the market penetration rate of 5G Lte modems in distribution network protection will exceed 15%.
New-generation Lte modems are integrating lightweight AI algorithms capable of performing primary analyses such as data cleaning and anomaly detection locally. The upgraded version of the USR-G786 now features vibration signature recognition capabilities, enabling it to distinguish between normal load fluctuations and equipment fault vibrations, thereby reducing invalid data uploads by 30%. This trend toward "edge intelligence" will significantly alleviate cloud computing pressure and communication traffic costs.
Faced with increasingly severe cybersecurity threats, LTE modems are constructing an integrated "endpoint-pipeline-cloud" protection system: device endpoints employ the SM4 encryption algorithm developed by the Chinese government, communication layers deploy VPN tunnels, and cloud platforms implement data desensitization. Tests conducted by a power research institution demonstrate that after adopting this new security architecture, the ability of Lte modem devices to resist advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks has increased fivefold.
From smart meters in the mountainous regions of Guizhou to the energy internet in Lujiazui, Shanghai, 4G modems and LTE modems are reconfiguring the communication DNA of the power industry. They serve not merely as conduits for data transmission but also as bridges connecting the physical and digital worlds. As 5G, AI, blockchain, and other technologies deeply integrate, LTE modems will evolve into intelligent terminals with self-awareness, self-decision-making, and self-optimization capabilities, providing crucial support for building a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient modern energy system. In this energy revolution, each Lte modem device represents a star illuminating the future of smart power, converging into a resplendent galaxy driving industry transformation.
