News on China's scientific and technological development.

antiterror13

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Expert says China’s self-developed Beidou system performs better than GPS
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An expert says that the satellite networking system in the Asia-Pacific region based on China’s self-developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System performs better than GPS in terms of positioning, real-time navigation, and accurate timing, according to the WeChat account of People’s Daily on Sept. 26.
Construction of the Beidou-3 global positioning system has already started and four networking satellites will be launched later this year to greatly increase the positioning accuracy of the existing system.
Ran Chengqi, deputy chief designer of the system said Beidou, also known as Compass, will provide all-weather and all-time services, including highly accurate and reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services, as well as short-message service.
The system has become a major supplier of global satellite navigation services. Other systems include the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the US, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) built by Russia, and the Galileo system of the European Union.
The world’s first man-made earth satellite was launched by the Soviet Union on Oct. 4, 1957, and GPS developed by the U.S. was put into operation in 1995, which now has 30 satellites in medium Earth orbit for military and civilian use. The civilian use is now open to the world.
Like other countries, China used to rely on GPS for research and development of technology, said Ran.
Until the early 1980s, Chinese expert Chen Fangyun put forward the positioning scheme based on two satellites that were launched into high Earth orbit. Although it could not rival the GPS systems in terms of positioning accuracy, it, at least, met the design target.
The expert disclosed that the Beidou-2 system plans to form a global network of 35 Beidou navigation satellites by 2020, five more than GPS. The five geostationary satellites in high Earth orbit are mainly for short-message service.

A GPS receiver
Ran added that, although the launching of the 35 satellites has not been completed, a satellite network for the Asia-Pacific region has already been established.
Of course, Canada and Mexico prefer GPS, but the Beidou system will be more advantageous for countries in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the expert.
Experts from Asia-Pacific countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, and Laos were sent to China in July 2014 to study the Beidou-2 system and discuss cooperation. The Chinese government is actively promoting application of the system in the region.
Despite some fuss over its limited capacity in positioning accuracy, the Beidou-1 system is said to have played an important role in the rescue efforts following the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, as it provided the only channel connecting the quake-hit area with the outside area, Ran stated.
After the Beidou-2 networking system is established in the region, fishermen can install the terminal system on their ships and will be able to seek help in a timely fashion in case of an emergency.
The Chinese government has even offered a 100-million-yuan ($15.07 million) subsidy for 10,000 fishermen in Liaoning, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Hainan to encourage use of the system.

The expert also disclosed that the charge for sending a short message via the Beidou system is only three tenths of a yuan, the cheapest ever in the history.
In addition, Ran noted that China is planning to install Beidou equipment on light poles and signal towers to form an advanced ground-based system, which, when combined with the space-based satellites, can achieve more accurate real-time positioning than GPS.
Many high-tech enterprises in China have also started to focus on positioning and navigation research, as they can enjoy tax exemption and financial support offered by the Chinese government.
Ran predicts that the Beidou system industry is set to embrace a bright future.
 

Figaro

Senior Member
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China's magnetic field generator ...
China approves world's 2nd most powerful magnetic field generator
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) 08:20, September 29, 2017

China's Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF) on Wednesday passed testing by an expert panel organized by the National Development Reform Commission, according to local media.

The SHMFF, located in eastern China's Anhui Province, is a hybrid magnet group that can generate a magnetic field as high as 40 Tesla, one of only two groups in the world with such a capability.

So basically, it's a group of super-powerful electric magnets, and the related research facilities around it.

Why does it matter?

The machine is jointly built by Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASHIPS) and the University of Science and Technology of China.

It took them nine years to build the machine, aiming at providing an experimental environment for fields such as high-temperature superconductivity, quantum materials and life science.

The SHMFF can help scientists examine physical phenomena that are otherwise unavailable.

"It's already been used in more than 100 researches before the panel test," said Wang Yingjian, Party chief of CASHIPS. "The trial operation began in 2010."

A total of 19 accomplishments closely linked to high magnetic fields have won Nobel Prizes since 1913.

The technology is also applied to medical uses like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where a stronger field can help generate clearer images.

"It's not about the revenue it can generate. It's about the science explorations in our future," Li Yadong, professor at Tsinghua University and CAS member, told Anhui TV.

Scientific ambition

China has been trying to create a world-class research environment with the aim of attracting more top scientists to work in the country.

The "Science Island" in Hefei has already drawn many overseas Chinese back to their homeland.

In addition to the SHMFF, China has also built FAST, the world's largest radio telescope, to peer through space like humans have never done.

The Chinese government created a long-term plan for building facilities on basic science research in 2013, in which it promised more equipment.

Stay tuned to CGTN to find out more scientific developments in China.
 
now I read
China opens 2,000-km quantum communication line
Xinhua| 2017-09-29 20:33:21
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A 2,000-km quantum communication line opened on Friday between Beijing and Shanghai.

The line is the world's first trunk line of secure quantum telecommunications. The Jing-Hu (Beijing-Shanghai) Trunk Line connects Beijing, Jinan, Hefei, and Shanghai.

The line is connected with the world's first quantum satellite, which was launched by China in August last year, through a station in Beijing. The satellite is nicknamed "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.

Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), talked with staff in Hefei, Jinan, Shanghai and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, through the line. He also had a video call with Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger, through the satellite.

Quantum communications have ultra-high security. It is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through them.
 

taxiya

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great so 2x power efficiency ...I'd say Chinese new Matrix-2000 CPU is 2-3x more power efficient than Intel Xeon.

It is now very interesting that China holds top 2 fastest supercomputers in the world and both using indigenous CPU
the 1st spot : with Sunway SW26010
2nd spot with Matrix-2000 GPDSP

China should thank to Obama of this embargo and also Intel lost almost billions dollar due to the embargo since 2013
Matrix-2000 is a DSP not a CPU, it is the close counterpart of (to replace) Intel Phi which is a co-processer . Comparison should be done to Phi. Even that is just close not totally appropriate as DSP and co-processer is different.

There is no strict boundry among CPU, Co-Processor and DSP. But the general distinction is as following:

General purpose -> specific problem solving: CPU -> Co-Processor -> DSP
Instruction set (number of instructions: More -> Less): CPU -> Co-Processor -> DSP

However, some say that Matrix-2000's core is ARM based, therefore it is a CPU instead of DSP, but that is only a suspicion, not proven as that someone is a foreign scientist who was involved in benchmark run, who has no access in the design of Matrix-2000 (internal diagram etc.)
 
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taxiya

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Upgraded Tianhe-2 will still use Intel processors in addition to the new indigenous processors.
True, upgrade from Tianhe-2 to Tianhe-2A is only to replace the Phi co-processor due to the embargo.

But I have read that there is a wish (not plan yet?) of a possible further upgrade from Tianhe-2A which will replace the Intel Xeon (general CPU) with a indigenous CPU. That apparently is due to the certainty of no further new Xeon CPU.
 

taxiya

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Registered Member
It is ... but the biggest value is the accelerator which was Intel Xeon Phi chip, that the chip that got banned. The other CPU is just normal CPU Intel Xeon E5, which you could buy practically from anywhere
I am not sure if NUDT will procure a later Xeon CPU for their project or possible upgrade of Tianhe-2A even if the US government does not make a ban on it yet. Too risky for a surprise delay (like the KJ-2000 program).

I believe NUDT and any other state owned program, Intel's business in Chinese super computer program is finished. Same to any US based CPU makers.

A note, I have read from a western website that AMD CPU and GPU was selected in a program (third) to develop the next Chinese exascale computer. This is something I have never heard about from Chinese source. So just keep that in the back of our head, but I won't count on it.
 

antiterror13

Brigadier
Matrix-2000 is a DSP not a CPU, it is the close counterpart of (to replace) Intel Phi which is a co-processer . Comparison should be done to Phi. Even that is just close not totally appropriate as DSP and co-processer is different.

There is no strict boundry among CPU, Co-Processor and DSP. But the general distinction is as following:

General purpose -> specific problem solving: CPU -> Co-Processor -> DSP
Instruction set (number of instructions: More -> Less): CPU -> Co-Processor -> DSP

However, some say that Matrix-2000's core is ARM based, therefore it is a CPU instead of DSP, but that is only a suspicion, not proven as that someone is a foreign scientist who was involved in benchmark run, who has no access in the design of Matrix-2000 (internal diagram etc.)

Accelerator is definitely a CPU ... work together with main CPU. HP Accelerator is harder to design and much more expensive .. thats why the US ban the sale to China
 

antiterror13

Brigadier
I am not sure if NUDT will procure a later Xeon CPU for their project or possible upgrade of Tianhe-2A even if the US government does not make a ban on it yet. Too risky for a surprise delay (like the KJ-2000 program).

I believe NUDT and any other state owned program, Intel's business in Chinese super computer program is finished. Same to any US based CPU makers.

A note, I have read from a western website that AMD CPU and GPU was selected in a program (third) to develop the next Chinese exascale computer. This is something I have never heard about from Chinese source. So just keep that in the back of our head, but I won't count on it.

There is no way China would use any foreign CPU, especially from the US for the next Chinese supercomputer. AMD and Intel basically the same, in respect to the US law

My question is .... who actually fabricate Chinese CPU for their supercomputers ? My understanding is that the biggest Chinese chips manufacturer is SMIC (
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) and the most advanced they can produce currently is "only" 28 nm technology chips which is 2 generations behind the best (Intel or Global Foundries). I know that SMIC will have much more advanced fabs soon
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I know that until recently nVidia was manufactured by 28nm technology

Is it possible that the US also would ban to manufacture Chinese chip by TSMC, GF, Samsung, etc, etc? ...
 
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antiterror13

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Maximum yield of China’s sea rice way beyond experts’ expectations

almost 9 ton per ha ;)

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The maximum yield of sea rice on saline-alkaline soil developed by China’s “father of hybrid” Yuan Longping’s team has reached 620.95 kilograms per mu (0.07 hectare), way beyond experts’ expectations, People’s Daily reported on Sept. 29.
The test was carried out in the field at the Sea-Rice Research and Development Center in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, on Sept. 28.
The existing sea rice yield is only about 100 kilograms per mu, according to Yuan, which is not cost-effective for farmers. However, if the yield could be improved to 300 kilograms per mu, they would be much active in planting the rice.

Yuan said he is very satisfied that the sea rice yield has well exceeded 300 kilograms.
Rice is the first choice for improving saline-alkaline soil, of which there is 1.5 billion mu in China. About 300 million mu of that is exploitable. If one third of such land is used to plant the sea rice, the total yield could reach at least 30 billion kilograms, which could feed 80 million people in China, experts estimated.
Yuan also noted his and the institution’s desire to help other countries develop hybrid rice to contribute to world food security and peace.
 

taxiya

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Registered Member
There is no way China would use any foreign CPU, especially from the US for the next Chinese supercomputer. AMD and Intel basically the same, in respect to the US law

My question is .... who actually fabricate Chinese CPU for their supercomputers ? My understanding is that the biggest Chinese chips manufacturer is SMIC (
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
) and the most advanced they can produce currently is "only" 28 nm technology chips which is 2 generations behind the best (Intel or Global Foundries). I know that SMIC will have much more advanced fabs soon
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


I know that until recently nVidia was manufactured by 28nm technology

Is it possible that the US also would ban to manufacture Chinese chip by TSMC, GF, Samsung, etc, etc? ...
I don't know who fabricate Chinese CPUs used in supercomputers. But one thing is sure is that supercomputers do not have to have the latest chip fabrication tech. For example, Mitrix-2000 is around 1.5Ghz (?) per core, not very high. I remember Shenwei CPU used in Taihu Sunlight is not very high either. I think the key for them to reach high performance is the overall architecture, on-chip architecture (size of cache, inter-connect of cores) and inter-chip inter-connect (the super fast Ethernet), high speed memory (DDR4 in Tianhe-2). CPU is important, but only as important as one of many factors. A system's best performance is no better then its worst performing part. In this case, CPU is not an issue. I think the Chinese domestic chip manufacturing capability is good enough to keep the whole computer in lead.

A note, Lu Yutong said in her presentation last year regarding the upgrade that one of the key improvement for 2A is the speed bump of newer interconnect (connecting the Chips within and among boards).
 
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