Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1318 A Dazzling Arrival (4k)

"Of course, if everyone works out of their jobs for a year, the ministry probably won't be able to afford to give out bonuses." The chief engineer chuckled, saying he couldn't afford it, but his smile was incredibly radiant.

It's impossible that they can't afford to pay, but if they're all put together, it will involve personnel and professional title arrangements for the entire system, which is indeed a bit troublesome to some extent.

However, these are minor matters. The main consideration is that work takes time, and rushing things is not a good thing. It is better to do things thoroughly.

In particular, these two topics are large-scale projects that can be promoted across the entire industry and have a profound impact on the industry. It is best to let them be implemented naturally without rushing or urging, and by fully respecting scientific principles.

To be honest, from the perspective of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, with Gao Zhendong involved, this matter was no longer very scientific. Apart from him, it was better to be more scientific. The speed was already fast enough, and the gains were already substantial enough.

For the chief engineer of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, today was actually not a day for him. He was just there to get a feel for the emotions of other ministries. This feeling was great, and he was used to it. It had been like this since the DJS-59, and it had never changed in all these years.

He really wanted to tell Gao Zhendong that his position might be changed, at least the higher-ups had agreed, though the timing was uncertain. But this was a big deal; to some extent, personnel arrangements at this level were classified as confidential. So he held back, though it was a very difficult process.

Towards the end of the meeting, Gao Zhendong still said a few words, fulfilling his duties as host, and in a very practical way: "Considering that the leaders, experts, and comrades attending today all have a certain demand for this new type of device, before the meeting, our Third Factory's semiconductor laboratory's experimental line was running at full capacity, producing a batch of EP-64 chips, including both EP-6404 and EP-6432, for your preliminary research use. We also ask for your feedback during use. Of course, we won't listen to your feedback; that's the responsibility of the comrades at Factory 1274, so we'll shirk our duties."

The comrades all laughed; Committee Member Gao was really witty!

Gao Zhendong's move is similar to how, decades later, when a mobile phone company holds a product launch event, most of the media attending the event receive a demo unit.

This made the comrades very happy. They knew very well that after this batch of chips, if they wanted to get more EP-64 series chips, they would have to wait for the comrades at Factory 1274 to successfully start production.

You want the experimental line at Factory Three to continue producing for you? What are you thinking? How dare you!

It's obvious that the semiconductor laboratory at the Third Factory will be working with Chief Engineer Gao to undertake more important research tasks, so they won't have the time to produce anything for you.

It can be said that this batch of chips was the only one before Factory 1274 officially went into production.

This special treatment brought smiles to the faces of the attendees; it was all worth the trip! Just bringing back this batch of chips would make them proud in front of their colleagues. Even though there was a chief engineer from a ministry present, he also had subordinates to take care of. His subordinates also needed new components to carry out their work, and they knew very well that they couldn't get the Third Factory to produce these for them, not even the Seventeenth Ministry of Machine Building could easily do so.

As Xun Ge'er aptly put it: The branch plant of the Third Rolling Mill is different from other branch plants.

Gao Zhendong: It's not that bad. If they want it, I'll produce as much as they need until 1274 goes into production.
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The speed at which "Laser" travels across the ocean is not very fast. After all, it is a journal from a developing country. No matter how important it is in the industry, it is unlikely that anyone would be interested in such a theoretical journal to the point of using air freight. Apart from White Bear and Citibank, other countries would probably not be able to do it.

Of these two companies, only White Bear has the necessary conditions, but White Bear's application of lasers in communications can only be described as "potential" at the moment.

So now a very interesting situation has arisen: those who can get it haven't reacted yet, and those who can react haven't gotten it yet. After all, Citibank and this side don't have direct channels, so they have to wait for Hong Kong Island, John Bull, and France to go through roundabout channels to get it over there.

While the latest issue of "Laser" was still at sea, some quick-witted comrades in China had already arrived at Gao Zhendong's place.

Comrades from the Military Communications Institute.

They had only one idea: how to apply fiber optic communication to military communications.

This thing has a large capacity and is lightweight. Moreover, unlike electrical signals, optical signals can be stolen in non-contact ways. Even wired electrical signals can be stolen by monitoring changes in the electromagnetic field in a non-contact manner.

However, wired optical signals are not so easy to steal; physical contact is required, and this physical contact is much more difficult than physical contact on a wire.

These things don't need Gao Zhendong to say; everyone can figure them out. This is also the biggest reason why the comrades at the Military Communications Institute are so eager.

This thing is much better than wires for backbone transmission!
After learning their purpose, Gao Zhendong thought for a moment and offered his suggestions.

"Regarding the application of lasers in military communications, I suggest you don't rush into it..."

The comrades at the Military Communications Institute were quite surprised. This was not like Chief Engineer Gao's usual practice. Usually, when there was something good, he would prioritize the troops.

Seeing their expressions, Gao Zhendong laughed: "I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush, because there are comrades who are even more anxious than you."

What does it mean?
"Chief Engineer Gao, what do you mean?"

“I estimate that the Communications Design Institute of the Postal and Telecommunications Commission is more anxious than you are. Moreover, in this area, especially in the infrastructure equipment for laser communication, they have a better theoretical foundation and more practical experience than you. So my suggestion is that you wait and let the colleagues at the Communications Design Institute complete the research on the infrastructure equipment, and then you can carry out higher-level application research on that basis.”

Infrastructure equipment is already considered an application, but for the Military Communications Institute, they are actually more interested in higher-level applications.

The comrades from the Military Communications Institute weren't stupid either: "Ah... I understand. Chief Engineer Gao, it's just like the standard seven-layer network model you gave us. They handle the lower-level stuff, and we just need to use it."

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes, and this way you can save time, money and manpower."

In any case, the overall strength of the Military Communications Research Institute is not as good as that of the Communications Research Institute, as can be seen from their names, which are generally larger than institutes.

Moreover, in terms of overall capabilities, the Military Communications Institute is far inferior to the Communications Research Institute.

Although the colleagues from the Communication Research Institute haven't come to see him yet, Gao Zhendong believes they will be here soon. The attraction of this thing is innate to the colleagues from the Communication Research Institute.

Those working on the program-controlled switches are well-fed, but the Communication Institute isn't just about program-controlled switches; other colleagues also have their own jobs to do.

"Isn't this a case of using someone else's resources to achieve our goals?" The comrades from the Military Communications Institute were all smiles. "Chief Engineer Gao is still looking out for us." However, Gao Zhendong suddenly changed the subject and brought up something they had never even considered.

"However, I do suggest you do something."

"What is it?" The comrades immediately became extremely alert.

"You guys research how to stably transmit images over a larger bandwidth. It's okay if we don't have laser communication equipment right now. You can use LAN equipment to simulate the communication bandwidth of laser first, and get the application-level setup up and running. Then we can just switch to laser communication equipment later."

"This seems to be readily available, right? The bandwidth required for current images is not a problem in fiber optic communication." 1GHz of capacity, let alone fully realizing it, even partially realizing it is more than enough for the transmission of any image.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "That's not necessarily true. You've oversimplified the bandwidth required for image transmission. I suggest you conduct research in two directions."

If Chief Engineer Gao said there was a problem, then there must be a problem. Without saying a word, the comrades from the Military Communications Institute opened their notebooks.

"The first point is that, with a single optical fiber, the distance should be as far as possible, but the image quality only needs to be clear enough and the dynamic frame rate of the picture needs to be sufficient; it doesn't need to be extremely clear. The key to this is that the optical fiber should be as thin, light, and strong as possible..."

Gao Zhendong had made it so clear that the comrades at the Military Communications Institute could easily see what he was up to.

Fiber optic guidance for missiles!
After all, the Chijian-61, which shone brightly in the operation against India two years ago, used a similar guidance method, except that it was simple command guidance and used wires.

If optical fibers are used for missile guidance, there are many more possibilities.

That's equivalent to transmitting the image seen by the missile directly to the missile operator. In this case, even with an auxiliary automatic guidance system, or even with pure manual operation, it can achieve very good results.

"This is good, but can the fiber optic cable really hold up?" This was their only concern. The Chijian-61 wasn't exactly fast, and even so, it was said that the comrades who worked on the Chijian-61 had put in a lot of effort.

Gao Zhendong: Guess how they put their minds to it?

He laughed and said, "You don't need to worry about that, it's no problem for distances over 10 kilometers."

"10 kilometers?" The comrades were greatly surprised. To be honest, in people's minds these days, it is really hard to imagine a thin line being dragged in the air for 10 kilometers.

—It's always hard for people to imagine things they haven't seen, which is why science fiction is so fascinating.

“Yes, 10 kilometers is no problem, and it might be further, but let’s focus on 10 kilometers first.” Gao Zhendong was very confident; he had seen reports of 20 kilometers in his previous life.

However, he still tried to ease the pressure on his colleagues at the Military Communications Institute: "Don't worry, you can work with Changjian Machinery Factory on this. They have experience with wire-guided missiles, and you have the capability in image communication. It's a good combination of strengths and weaknesses."

In daily life, having similar goals is fine, as is having complementary personalities and abilities. However, when it comes to joint research, complementary abilities are often more suitable.

"We understand! We'll work with the National Defense Industry Committee and the comrades at Changjian Machinery Factory to plan this out properly." Even if the missile isn't used for the time being, the technology is excellent, and it would be good to develop and stockpile it.

"Okay, you guys handle this. If there are any problems, we can discuss them together, alright?"

"Hey, if you had said that earlier, we wouldn't have been so worried," the comrades at the Military Communications Institute said, completely relieved. There was one thing they hadn't forgotten—the man in front of them was the chief designer of the Chijian-61 wire-guided anti-tank missile.

With the combined efforts of the three parties, possessing both theoretical depth and technological breadth, as well as resource depth, what great things cannot be accomplished!
"As for the second one, we go against the grain. The distance doesn't need to be far, just a few meters or tens of meters. But the requirements for image quality are exactly the opposite. The resolution needs to be as high as possible, the image quality needs to be as good as possible, and the image indicators such as contrast, dynamic range, brightness, and sharpness need to be as good as possible! In short, we pursue the ultimate image quality!"

Two extremes, but comrades really can't imagine what this thing is used for. Why pursue the ultimate image quality at such a close distance? Why not just walk up and take a look?

"We don't quite understand the purpose of this..."

This time, Gao Zhendong said nothing: "You don't need to understand it too much for now. As long as this thing is useful, that's enough. Actually, this matter is no longer of much concern to you. Your main job is to provide enough bandwidth and reliable equipment."

The key is to ensure sufficient reliability; a sufficiently large bandwidth is actually a problem that the colleagues at the Communication Research Institute need to solve.

His words were cryptic, but the comrades didn't press him further. Those who knew, knew; Chief Engineer Gao would not hide anything he could tell us, but we absolutely couldn't ask about what he didn't say.

It wasn't that Gao Zhendong was being secretive; the main issue was that this matter involved another company, and according to regulations, without the necessary procedures and groundwork, it couldn't be discussed. While fiber optics wasn't the only solution here, it was the best one, and Gao Zhendong planned to implement it perfectly from the start.

I'll have to give them a call later. If Gao Zhendong hadn't brought this up himself, they probably wouldn't have even considered it. They have to take overall charge of this matter themselves; the Military Communications Institute or other potential participating units are just cooperating parties.

The colleagues from the Military Communications Institute had just left when the colleagues from the Original Research Institute arrived.

Or to be more precise, the colleagues from the original research institute have been waiting here for some time, but the former got there first, leaving them with no choice but to wait. Their responsibilities are different, so they can't be treated the same.

"Committee Member Gao, it's been a long time since you've been to the institute," the colleague from the original research institute said, half-jokingly and half-complainingly as soon as he arrived.

Very few members of the Science Committee are permanently stationed at the Academy of Sciences. They are all leaders in their respective fields and have their own bases. Only those who originally worked in units under the Academy of Sciences could do that, such as the original research institutes.

Gao Zhendong laughed. He roughly knew what the other party wanted to do, which was something he was supposed to do anyway. He didn't expect them to be so perceptive and come over on their own initiative.

(End of this chapter)