Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1308 10 Seconds Is Enough (4k)

"Dynamic range of 82dB? You guys are amazing!"

Putting aside other indicators, the colleagues at the Ministry of Land Resources Research Institute were extremely excited when they looked at the parameter they cared about most.

"Hmm... not quite godlike, there's still room for improvement." The comrades at the radar institute looked at this indicator value and were somewhat dissatisfied.

The colleagues from the Earth Resources Research Institute looked at them, somewhat speechless. These comrades working in the military industry had incredibly high standards for themselves, to an indescribable degree.

The leap from 45dB to 82dB, a jump of 37dB, is something that anyone familiar with the concept of dB knows.

Although the increase is not as large as that of an earthquake magnitude, it is still far beyond what a typical linear increase can achieve, since the slope of a linear increase is not usually that dramatic.

They're still not satisfied with these results.

While it's understandable that they're trying to improve equipment capabilities for the sake of the land resources department, their self-expectations are perhaps a bit too high.

"Comrade, this is already quite high. We're getting impatient. After all, our comrades in the land resources department are still using the 45dB as a treasure. Could you make some for us first so we can start using them?"

The comrades from the Land Resources Department decided not to be picky anymore; this one would be perfect.

“Well… we are confident that we can improve the equipment’s specifications in a short time. Why don’t you wait a little longer?” The comrades from the radar institute were not very satisfied. For them, it was hard to tolerate handing over a half-finished product to their colleagues. If there were a few obsessive-compulsive or perfectionist people among them, it would be even more unbearable.

The comrades from the Land Resources Department, however, didn't take it to heart at all. What semi-finished product? That doesn't exist. This is advanced weaponry. They didn't care how long it would take to develop even more advanced versions; they felt this was already perfect: "It's alright, the main thing is we need it urgently..."

I wasn't in a hurry to use it, but seeing how much the parameters of this one have improved, I'm really anxious now!

It's important to understand that due to working conditions, geologists on field trips may not have the opportunity to revisit an area after surveying it, unless there are special circumstances. Given the vast size of our country, this kind of work arrangement is perfectly normal.

This means that even if high-performance equipment arrives a day late, mineral deposits may be overlooked due to equipment defects, or the underground conditions may be poorly understood.

That's all money! And it's not just a potential waste of money; the main problem is that we might miss discovering things we should have, which would be a real shame, especially when we have better equipment.

After hearing their explanation, the comrades at the radar institute understood their feelings.

"Hmm... I see. It seems we really can't delay any longer. How about this, we'll get you a batch of trial equipment based on the current design to use first, and then switch to the official version once we've finished it!"

Given the complexity of the backend of this seismograph, the radar institute can assemble a small batch in a very short time. However, their small batch is not insignificant to the comrades in the Ministry of Land Resources.

However, they remained resolute in defining this batch of equipment as "trial use." It was impossible, absolutely impossible, for equipment that was not properly optimized to claim a formal designation!

The colleagues at the Land Resources Research Institute didn't care whether they tried it out or not, as long as it worked: "Great! Thank you so much, comrades."

"It's all what we should do. If you want to thank someone, thank Chief Engineer Gao." Without his various efforts, even if we wanted to help you, we definitely wouldn't have achieved this result.

Analog-to-digital converter chips and digital signal processor chips—these two core new devices owe their existence to his efforts. Not to mention, if it weren't for his reminder, you wouldn't have found us at all.

"Of course we must thank you. We will pay you a special visit after we return to the capital..."

Besides thanking this "Chief Engineer Gao," it seems he also has two new types of weapons. No, I must go back and urge the department leaders to get the ships and planes as soon as possible.

"By the way, since you want to use it now, we will add some convenient design features for you."

"Convenience design?"

"Yes, although it doesn't help in principle, it can improve your work efficiency indirectly. Come on, let me explain it to you. You can start from your actual work and see if it meets your requirements. If there are no problems, we will move on to it."

After all, fundamentally, this thing and radar have something in common in terms of architecture and use. For those who work with radar, they don’t mind copying some designs that don’t involve secrets, to make things as convenient as possible for the comrades in the Ministry of Land and Resources.

"Okay, okay, you tell me, I'll learn."

“We plan to make the operation and control interface of your device digitally set. This way, firstly, setting and reading various parameters will be more intuitive, and secondly, you can store some configuration schemes that you think are valuable in the device and call them directly when needed, so you don’t have to call them back and forth.”

Since we're going to digitize, let's digitize everything from signal processing to equipment usage. In any case, reading or adjusting the numbers on an LED digital tube is much better than using various swaying pointers.

"Really? That's great! We've also encountered this problem during use. Some well-configured settings that are meant to be reused simply cannot be saved during actual use. When we need to reuse them, we have to go through a lot of trouble to readjust them."

A major drawback of analog equipment is that storing data is extremely costly, especially for equipment that requires frequent manual adjustments; storage is practically impossible. Adjustments must be made each time based on different situations, and when you want to use a complete set of parameters from a past setup, you have to start all over again manually.

"Okay, then you can guide our people on which ones to store, which ones not to store, which ones to store separately, how many sets of plans to store, and other such details." The comrades from the radar institute were very thoughtful and used very humble words.

"Good! Good! Good! We will strive to learn from your colleagues." "In addition, we plan to upgrade your data recording system. Currently, the equipment has the ability to continuously detect, but your data recording system does not have the ability to continuously record, or rather, the continuous recording capacity is limited. I estimate that this will have a certain impact on your detection."

The colleagues at the Institute of Geological Resources were overjoyed. This problem had indeed been troubling them. Not to mention these days, even in the original history, in the 1980s and 1990s, the imported Citi seismographs they used still had this problem: their continuous recording capability could not meet the application requirements.

Those who work with radar are different; they can spot problems for us at a glance.

"Yes, our recording system is quite primitive. To be honest, we don't use any of the new devices on computers now. We still record data directly using analog signals on magnetic tape. A magnetic tape can't record much data before it's used up, and changing tapes will cause the work to be interrupted, which is very troublesome to start over."

Unlike a radio that can be stopped and started at will, seismographs do not work in a complicated way. If you want to connect two independent measurements into a complete set of data, it is still somewhat troublesome.

And it's still the same problem—the original signal was analog, and the comrades have tried their best to make use of the new weapon of the magnetic tape drive, but recording the signal is still a bit troublesome—not much can be recorded, and the capacity of the magnetic tape to record has nothing to do with the amount of data, but depends on the working time, since the magnetic tape has to be continuously rotating anyway.

A tape is about 45 minutes long. The amount of data detected is not actually very large, but a 45-minute tape is used up completely.

The comrades in the Ministry of Land Resources weren't unaware of the problem; they simply couldn't solve it. They knew that the tape capacity was actually being wasted in large quantities, but the inherent flaws in the signal system left them helpless.

“It’s alright. Now that we’ve digitized the signal, it will be much easier to record. Considering the data precision you need and the need to retain some redundancy, we’ve chosen to use double-precision floating-point numbers for storage. One tape can record about 15 to 20 data entries.”

The comrades at the radar institute did not use 15cm floppy disks. Firstly, floppy disks are too bulky, and secondly, considering that the Ministry of Land Resources used magnetic tapes before, it was better to preserve compatibility and make use of past resources.

"How much?" The colleagues at the Land Resources Research Institute were not in this field, so they never expected that the data volume after digitization would be so large!

"With 15 to 20 data points, let's say 15. If the measurement takes 45 minutes, it can store about 55 data points per second. That should be enough, right?"

The comrades from the Ministry of Land Resources calculated it very carefully.

"That's enough! There aren't that many, and the data refresh rate isn't that fast either. Does that mean a single tape can store data continuously for a longer period?"

“Yes, if you’re processing one data entry per second, then a magnetic tape can store about 2500 minutes of data.” The comrades from the radar institute didn’t know the actual data refresh rate they were using, so they used the simplest example of 1Hz. With 1Hz of data, you can directly divide by the data refresh rate to know how many minutes of continuous operation it can run.

"That's enough! That's enough! That's enough!" The colleagues from the Land Resources Research Institute were pleasantly surprised; this data capacity was more than enough.

However, the comrades at the radar institute who had dealt with Gao Zhendong a lot learned one of his habits very well—being meticulous and thorough in their thinking. Whether it's useful or not is another matter; at least I'll bring it up first.

"In addition, considering that you may need to change tapes midway, we will add a buffer to the equipment. As long as the power is not interrupted, when changing tapes, simply press the switch, and the buffer will take over the data storage from the tape. After you have changed the tape and press the switch again, the buffer data will be written to the new tape, and the tape will resume the data recording work. This will give you about 10 seconds of tape changing time without interrupting the measurement work. Of course, more time is also possible, but that would be more expensive."

Such a good thing? The comrades in the Ministry of Land Resources, who already had large-capacity storage, hadn't considered the issue of replacing the magnetic tapes. But they didn't expect the comrades in the Radar Institute to be so thoughtful, leaving no problem unaddressed.

"That's enough, 10 seconds is enough! I don't believe our comrades in the Land Resources Department are so clumsy that they can't even change a tape in 10 seconds." With this, everything is foolproof!
If you're quick enough, 10 seconds is already a long time.

Upon hearing this, the comrades all laughed.
-
"The 17th Ministry of Machine Building has submitted a report recommending that Comrade Gao Zhendong be appointed as the Deputy Chief Engineer of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, enjoying the same treatment as a Chief Engineer?" A leader asked with a smile as he looked at the report in his hand.

"Yes, this is what they submitted, the materials on Comrade Gao Zhendong." The comrade who was reporting smiled and handed over a thick book of materials.

The leader shook his head: "I won't look at it, I won't look at it. The stuff Comrade Zhendong is doing is too advanced, I can't understand it at all. Anyway, the results are excellent, I know, I know. Besides, the materials that the 17th Ministry of Machine Building has are not complete, they are not as clear as I am, hahaha."

Discussing such matters always brings a pleasant feeling, and the leader laughed heartily.

The leader is right. If no special investigation is organized, even the National Defense Commission probably couldn't have written down all of Gao Zhendong's achievements. The main reason is that he is really like an octopus, and there are many strange and obscure things that even the National Defense Commission, which knows him best, doesn't know.

"You're right. The 17th Ministry of Machine Building only knows about its own little corner of the world; it certainly doesn't understand things as well as you do." The comrade who was reporting also laughed.

“Yes, their department’s considerations are correct. As the old saying goes, I urge Heaven to rouse itself and send down talents without being bound by convention. Now that these talents have been sent down, we must also be unconventional in our use of them. Age is not a problem; ideology and ability are the real key. You have already made your assessment in these aspects; this comrade is very capable,” another leader said with a smile.

"What's the opinion of the National Defense Industry Committee?" Although he was from the 17th Ministry of Machinery Industry, he was a treasure of the National Defense Industry Committee.

"Just two words—'agree'." While 'agree' and 'confirm' have the same effect, they sound subtly different in some ways.

"Well, since we all share the same opinion, let's not spoil the fun."

“That’s right, but we still need to pick a time. I don’t think Comrade Zhendong cares whether it’s earlier or later.”

"It's more than just that he doesn't care; I reckon he doesn't even know such a thing exists. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't care much about it."

"Well, let's pick a time and give him some cover, which will also reduce the workload of the National Defense Commission and related units."

"Ok, Ok."

(End of this chapter)