Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1479 The Longing for Freedom (4k)

“But small firecrackers don’t have strong penetrating power, and their stopping power is also weak,” Gao Zhendong said.

When evaluating the power of a handgun bullet, there are generally two aspects: penetration and stopping power.

The former is responsible for penetrating the target, while the latter is responsible for disabling it.

This is more common when evaluating handguns, because as the bullet caliber increases, these two indicators become less meaningful for the human body.

"Hey, that's not a common saying. Now that you mention it, it reminds me of the Japanese rifles. One shot, two bullets, and they'd still be alive and kicking even after being shot." The chief engineer laughed.

"Jumping around" is a bit of an exaggeration, considering he was shot, which is fatal. However, the characteristic of the P-45 is its stability even when going through a gun.

"Yes, that's the idea. This gun is mainly intended for use by officers in the security department, so it's designed to ensure that it can only hit one person at a time, but also to take them down with one shot. The 9mm ammunition is very effective in this regard."

The reason why 9mm bullets are so popular is mainly because their overall performance is indeed very good, and they can meet the requirements of all parties. As for their penetration power, it is indeed average, but it is the same against unarmored opponents and against armored opponents as well.

Gao Zhendong had no intention of replacing the small cannon. It was still usable as a ceremonial gun for the kind-hearted, and it was indeed good in terms of concealment and carrying. As for its power, the PPK was just the same old thing, so it didn't matter.

He was reminded by the fact that the internal security comrades came to him that morning to exchange his gun, and he felt that it would be nice to replace the big black stars on the hands of the comrades in the public security department.

There's no need to completely change the model number. Big Black Star's production line has already received investment, and it can't just be wasted like that. So his idea is to make the most of it.

"Hmm, what you're thinking makes sense. These kinds of demands seem to be becoming more and more prominent now, and we've heard about them to some extent."

Gao Zhendong pressed on, saying, "And there's another reason for switching to 9mm ammunition."

"What's the reason?" There are already many reasons, do you still have more? This is why Gao Zhendong's opinions are often accepted to a considerable extent.

He always manages to come up with a whole bunch of reasons.

"The 7.62x25mm rounds are too long. If we make them into double-stack magazines, it will be inconvenient for our hands to hold. The 9x19mm rounds are much better. They can be made into double-stack magazines, which will greatly improve the sustained firepower. For our comrades in the security area, the current gun has too much penetration power, but the sustained firepower is not very good."

The bullets are too long, which is the biggest reason why it is difficult to make the Black Star into a double-stack magazine. In fact, the single-stack magazine is already somewhat inconvenient to hold, and the double-stack makes it even worse.

Speaking of this, the chief engineer felt it deeply: "Well, that makes sense. This gun only has 8 bullets, so you're always on edge when you're firing it, afraid that you might accidentally shoot someone in the head and run out of bullets."

In reality, due to technical and manufacturing limitations, the Big Black Star rifle is usually not fully loaded with 8 bullets, but only 7, to avoid over-compressing the spring and causing malfunction. As a result, the rifle's sustained firepower is even more limited.

"Yes, I've done a rough calculation. If we switch to a double-stack single-feed magazine, the number of bullets on this gun can be increased to between 12 and 15, which would make it much easier for the comrades to use it."

This isn't the 21st century anymore; there are countless guns circulating among the people. For those working in law enforcement, having a pistol with plenty of ammunition and sufficient power is extremely necessary.

The suggestions made by Gao Zhendong were basically improvements we made later when exporting TT33 imitations. In other words, these things had a basis for implementation and were implemented.

In this way, modifying the gun is not troublesome, and it is at least much better than the original model.

"Hmm, your suggestions are quite interesting. It's good that the comrades who produce pistols are relatively free. It's good to give them something to do. Maintaining the continuity of the research team is very necessary. I'll talk to them about it later."

Gao Zhendong just needs to offer his opinions; the chief engineer has a lot more to consider.

Ensuring the continuity of the research team is also very important for the National Defense Industry Committee. Moreover, what Gao Zhendong proposed all sound quite reasonable. To put it bluntly, the comrades in the security department are using surplus military supplies, which seems rather unfair. Making some changes wouldn't be a bad idea.

However, neither he nor Gao Zhendong took this matter to heart, because it was very simple and a trivial matter that could be mentioned only briefly.

After saying that, he remembered something. It just so happened that Gao Zhendong had come to him himself, so there was no better time than now.

"By the way, the satellite center sent over a batch of images these past two days. I'll have someone send you a copy later. Take a look and give me your thoughts."

Gao Zhendong didn't know what it was, but he readily agreed.
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"Committee Member Gao, we're here again."

Before Gao Zhendong received the batch of photos the chief engineer had mentioned, he was greeted by other comrades, who were old acquaintances.

Research on ferrites.

Gao Zhendong was very happy to see them, which meant that there must have been some progress in ferrite.

"What? There's been progress?" Judging from the level of technology I had presented at the time, and their expressions, it was almost inevitable.

"Yes, following your technology, we successfully produced ferrite specimens with the performance you described on schedule. The rest is no longer your concern," the colleague from the Applied Chemistry Department said with a smile.

"Ah, I see. A phase shifter, right?" Gao Zhendong recalled the ideas and requirements about P-band phase shifters that he had received not long ago.

"Yes, that's it. We now have reliable parameters and specifications for ferrite, which allows us to delve deeper into the design of phase shifters."

Prior to this, we did not have a complete understanding of ferrites, which made us hesitant in our work and unclear about the future direction of our work.

But now the situation is different. With ferrite materials that fully meet the operating frequency requirements and whose performance parameters are far superior to those expected, it's like a dragon entering the sea for those designing phase shifters—there's no need to worry at all.

This is a good thing, but not entirely good. It means that the pressure of the problem has now shifted to them, and since the phase shifter is the core of the phased array radar, it cannot afford to fail. Under these circumstances, the pressure is more concentrated on a smaller surface area, making the pressure much greater.

Therefore, our comrades are doing everything they can to complete this task, and in addition to their own efforts, study and research, they are also seeking all possible assistance.

Gao Zhendong was naturally the focus of attention, after all, this comrade had done a lot of work and laid a solid foundation in the field of radar before.

“I have reviewed the materials you sent. Tell me your current thoughts and directions, and let’s discuss them together.”

Although he had read the materials, Gao Zhendong was not as familiar with the specific situation and current status as those comrades who specifically studied phase shifters.

"Okay, Committee Member Gao, I'll report the current situation to you right away."

There weren't many details, because the work wasn't actually that extensive; it only took about ten minutes to explain. After listening, Gao Zhendong stroked his chin: "So, you're currently considering a cylindrical dual-mode non-reciprocal phase shifter?"

Seeing that Gao Zhendong was noncommittal about this choice, his comrades explained: "Yes, we considered that this phase shifter has a simple structure and a large phase shift, and can adapt to working under multi-polarization conditions. Moreover, it has advantages such as no need for external magnetic circuits, interlocking operation, fast switching, low power consumption, and easy heat dissipation."

Gao Zhendong nodded. This choice wasn't necessarily problematic, since the most urgent task right now was to get this thing out of the box.

How to do it? Naturally, we should start with the simplest structure, and the structure that our comrades have chosen is the simplest and most transparent one.

But there is a question – why is this structure being made public so openly?

One reason for this is that this structure is relatively close to the principle, a relatively original structure, meaning that as long as you grasp the principle, you can roughly figure it out.

Another reason is that this thing is actually useless...

Or to put it another way, the research is fine, but there are significant problems in practical use—not many problems, but they are substantial.

Gao Zhendong pointed to two locations on the cylindrical phase shifter structure diagram brought by his comrades: "Comrades, have you thought about what problems these two locations might cause?"

When the comrades looked at the place he was pointing to, they saw that it was precisely the input and output ends of the excitation line.

"This doesn't seem to be a big problem. It's a very simple and direct stimulus input and output. As long as it's matched well, there shouldn't be any issues."

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "In actual use, the leads at both ends will block radio waves and cause performance degradation. So this type of phase shifter is fine for research, but not so good for actual use."

As the comrades' eyes followed Gao Zhendong's pen across the paper, the actual electromagnetic field diagram of this phase shifter gradually became clear in their minds.

"That's true. Just two short vertical lines at both ends have a significant impact on radio waves."

"Just these two short paragraphs, who would have thought of that at the beginning?"

"It should be fine for preliminary research, but it needs some modifications later..."

"..."

The comrades expressed their opinions in various ways, while also feeling somewhat embarrassed about their oversight.

Gao Zhendong raised his hand, and the comrades quieted down and looked at him, knowing that he must have something to say.

"Let's modify it like this so that the phase shifter is closer to practical use."

After speaking, Gao Zhendong made a few modifications to the longitudinal section of the cylindrical ferrite. In reality, it was not much; he simply changed the position and direction of the three lines. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he made only a few strokes.

But with just a few strokes, the situation changed.

"We moved the excitation line from the center to the position where the ferrite cylinder contacts the central medium, and at the same time added a certain length of matching section at both ends, reducing the angle between the excitation line and the outer wall of the ferrite to about 10°. In this way, the problem mentioned earlier is basically eliminated."

Gao Zhendong tapped on the map and laughed.

"Hey, it's really all set."

"Although this increases the overall length of the phase shifter, it solves the biggest problem of the excitation line blocking radio waves."

"It is truly simple, and it is truly useful."

"..."

The designers of the phase shifter looked at the few slightly crooked black lines on the blueprints, and each of them felt a mixture of joy and embarrassment.

In fact, Gao Zhendong's purpose in making these strokes was very simple: to move the excitation line from the center to the edge, and to further reduce the obstruction of the excitation line to radio waves through matching segments and inclined wiring.

It sounds like anyone could do it, but the fact that they were able to quickly determine this plan in such a short time is something that not everyone can do.

First, one must have sufficient technical sensitivity and solid basic skills to identify problems in the original solution immediately.

Secondly, one must have sufficient ability to know how to solve this problem.

Finally, and most importantly, one must have enough confidence to make a quick decision and to clearly recognize and assess whether the solution solves the problem without introducing any unacceptable new ones.

These three strokes are something that comrades can definitely figure out by thinking about them slowly. But to discover it so early, solve it so quickly, and with such a simple and elegant method is quite remarkable.

Gao Zhendong tapped the table, bringing the still silent comrades back to their senses and drawing their attention to him. He then added, "With this change, the phase shifter has a practical basis for use, but it is still not the optimal solution. My suggestion is to use this structure to make samples and conduct experiments first. Comrades, you still need to further study and learn theoretical knowledge to strive to make the phase shifter optimal, adaptable to various requirements, and enter the realm of freedom."

At this point, he couldn't help but recall his situation before he traveled through time; our phased array was truly free.

Domestic agricultural sectors have even started using phased array radar for anti-wild boar operations. Don't underestimate this agricultural product. After the two companies split up in the north, when they were fighting, the eldest brother bought this agricultural phased array radar from a domestic shopping platform for anti-drone warfare, which increased the drone interception rate by about 50 percentage points.

Even Gao Zhendong himself had come into contact with velocity-measuring phased array radar when he was working on a research project with his supervisor.

Gao Zhendong's words filled the comrades with longing; how wonderful it would be to reach that level.

However, this is just a beautiful wish, and it may be difficult to achieve in a short time, or even to work towards that goal.

"Committee Member Gao, we will definitely work hard. However, we are currently lacking in theoretical guidance and can only study and learn slowly. As you know, practical military theory, apart from the most basic part which cannot be concealed, is kept completely under wraps."

The most basic part is the fundamental theory of electromagnetism, which cannot be covered up, but going deeper is another matter entirely.

(End of this chapter)