China Science & Technology Forum

[JSCh]

China moves a big step closer to ‘Star Wars’ laser weapons | South China Morning Post
Mainland scientists claim they have developed the world’s most powerful supercapacitor, which could lead to advanced ‘Star Wars-type’ laser weapons.

• PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 December, 2015, 9:40pm
• UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 December, 2015, 10:46am
• Stephen Chen binglin.chen@scmp.com

A new laser cannon, which has been developed by Chinese scientists. Photo: SCMP Pictures​

Mainland scientists are developing the world’s most powerful supercapacitor that could make Star Wars weapons a reality.

Prototypes of directed-energy weapons such as laser cannons and railguns have been developed in many countries, but few have made it out of their laboratories due to their size and weight.

If the new technology really works and wins a nod from military, a Star Wars weapon may not be very far from us

Zhu Heyuan​

The Boeing YAL-1 airborne laser test-bed system had to be mounted on a 400-tonne Boeing 747 simply to kill a small drone. The project was cancelled in 2012.

Laser scientists say it is not their fault. After decades of effort, the actual laser weapon has been reduced to the size of a suitcase. But the enormous power supply needed to supply has remained prohibitively large.

The type of storage devices that can provide very large bursts of energy in a short time are called capacitors. Smaller versions are used widely, from starter motors of vehicles to medical implants.

Large, or supercapacitors have been used in lasers and other forms of electrically powered weapons as to store energy and boost power. Traditionally, such capacitors have been heavy and bulky – some are bigger than shipping containers.

Now, a research team from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences led by professor Huang Fuqiang has reported a breakthrough in capacitor technology. In a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Science, they describe how the power density of their supercapacitor can reach 26 kilowatts per kilogram, or 130 times that of lithium-ion batteries.

The Yal-1 laser cannon required a power output of one megawatt. A capacitor required to meet that power demand, using conventional technology, would weigh more than 10 tonnes. Huang’s team’s new supercapacitor, in theory, would weigh 40kg.

“A significant weight loss in the power unit can reduce the overall mass of a laser system. It can extend the application of laser weapon to fighter jets or even spacecraft,” said professor Zhu Heyuan, an expert of laser technology at Fudan University in Shanghai, who was not involved in the research.

“If the new technology really works and wins a nod from military, a Star Wars weapon may not be very far from us.”

A remaining problem for capacitors is their very low energy-storage capacity, which means their high power output might not last long enough to inflict fatal damage on an enemy target.

Huang’s supercapacitor broke the traditional limits of ordinary capacitors with an ability to store 41 watt-hours of electricity per kilogram. Though lower than a lithium battery, it was equivalent to lead-acid cell batteries used in cars today. It was the first time that a capacitor could store as much energy as a mainstream battery.

The higher new energy storage capacity opens up new application in other advanced weapons.

Recent years have seen rapid advances in electrically powered weapons for naval and army use. Rail guns, for instance, used electromagnetic force to accelerate projectiles at 10 times the speed of sound to hit long-distance targets, penetrate thick tank armour and intercept incoming missiles.

These new weapons, like the laser cannon, were too big and heavy to be mounted on most aircraft. The world’s most powerful rail gun, which can deliver 32 megajoules of kinetic energy, was tested by the US navy because the warship could bear the weight of its power supply unit.

A cutaway illustration showing attempts by the United States military in the 1970s to create an airborne laser system.​

 

[JSCh]

Pilot nuclear power project gains steam
2015-12-22 22:48:01 | Editor: huaxia

The No. 6 unit of a pilot nuclear power project breaks ground in Fuqing, southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 22, 2015. The No. 5 and No. 6 units of the nuclear power project in Fuqing will use Hualong One technology, a domestically-developed third generation reactor. Construction on the No. 6 unit began here on Tuesday. Construction on the No. 5 unit began in May. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan) ​

FUZHOU, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Construction on the second unit of a pilot nuclear power project, which uses a Chinese-designed reactor, began in southeast China on Tuesday.

Workers on Tuesday morning broke ground on the unit that will use Hualong One technology, a domestically-developed third generation reactor, in Fuqing, Fujian Province.

Hualong One was jointly designed by China's nuclear power giants, China General Nuclear Power Group and China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC). It passed inspection by a national panel in August 2014.

The government has approved the CNNC Fuqing branch to build six nuclear power units. The No. 5 and 6 units will be a pilot project featuring Hualong One. Construction on the No. 5 unit began in May.

The latest unit will take about 62 months to build, according to the CNNC Fuqing branch.

"The Hualong One technology will eventually become a powerful source of energy that will support economic growth along the southeastern coast," said Xu Ligen, deputy general manager of the CNNC Fuqing branch.

Another pilot project using Hualong One will begin later this month in Fangchenggang City in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Xing Ji, chief designer of Hualong One, said China owns the complete intellectual property rights of Hualong One and the pilot project will help pave the way for China's nuclear power equipment to go global.

China plans to reach 58 million kilowatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2020.

The country has actively promoted Hualong One at home and abroad, with an agreement with Argentina in November guaranteeing the use of it in the fifth nuclear plant in Argentina, a key emerging market for Chinese companies.

The No. 5 unit of a pilot nuclear power project is under construciton in Fuqing, southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 22, 2015. The No. 5 and No. 6 units of the nuclear power project in Fuqing will use Hualong One technology, a domestically-developed third generation reactor. Construction on the No. 6 unit began here on Tuesday. Construction on the No. 5 unit began in May. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

Construction starts on Fuqing 6 (Image: CNNC)​

 

[Martian2]

Taiwanese lab develops smallest-ever transistor - Taipei Times

 

[JSCh]

Public Release: 22-Dec-2015

China successfully developed 'Darwin,' a neuromorphic chip based on Spiking Neural Networks
Science China Press

IMAGE: Photos of the chip and the demonstration board.
Credit: ©Science China Press​

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a type of information processing system based on mimicking the principles of biological brains, and has been broadly applied in application domains such as pattern recognition, automatic control, signal processing, decision support system and artificial intelligence. Spiking Neural Network (SNN) is a type of biologically-inspired ANN that perform information processing based on discrete-time spikes. It is more biologically realistic than classic ANNs, and can potentially achieve much better performance-power ratio. Recently, researchers from Zhejiang University and Hangzhou Dianzi University in Hangzhou, China successfully developed the Darwin Neural Processing Unit (NPU), a neuromorphic hardware co-processor based on Spiking Neural Networks, fabricated by standard CMOS technology.

With the rapid development of the Internet-of-Things and intelligent hardware systems, a variety of intelligent devices are pervasive in today's society, providing many services and convenience to people's lives, but they also raise challenges of running complex intelligent algorithms on small devices. Sponsored by the college of Computer science of Zhejiang University, the research group led by Dr. De Ma from Hangzhou Dianzi university and Dr. Xiaolei Zhu from Zhejiang university has developed a co-processor named as Darwin.The Darwin NPU aims to provide hardware acceleration of intelligent algorithms, with target application domain of resource-constrained, low-power small embeddeddevices. It has been fabricated by 180nm standard CMOS process, supporting a maximum of 2048 neurons, more than 4 million synapses and 15 different possible synaptic delays. It is highly configurable, supporting reconfiguration of SNN topology and many parameters of neurons and synapses.Figure 1 shows photos of the die and the prototype development board, which supports input/output in the form of neural spike trains via USB port.

The successful development ofDarwin demonstrates the feasibility of real-time execution of Spiking Neural Networks in resource-constrained embedded systems. It supports flexible configuration of a multitude of parameters of the neural network, hence it can be used to implement different functionalities as configured by the user. Its potential applications include intelligent hardware systems, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, and others.Since it uses spikes for information processing and transmission,similar to biological neural networks, it may be suitable for analysis and processing of biological spiking neural signals, and building brain-computer interface systems by interfacing with animal or human brains. As a prototype application in Brain-Computer Interfaces, Figure 2 describes an application example ofrecognizingthe user's motor imagery intention via real-time decoding of EEG signals, i.e., whether he is thinking of left or right, and using it to control the movement direction of a basketball in the virtual environment. Different from conventional EEG signal analysis algorithms, the input and output to Darwin are both neural spikes: the input is spike trains that encode EEG signals; after processing by the neural network, the output neuron with the highest firing rate is chosen as the classification result.

###

For more details, please refer to the upcoming paper "Darwin: a Neuromorphic Hardware Co-Processor based on Spiking Neural Networks",to be published in SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences, 2016 No.2 issue: Darwin: a Neuromorphic Hardware Co-Processor based on Spiking Neural Networks

China successfully developed 'Darwin,' a neuromorphic chip based on Spiking Neural Networks | EurekAlert! Science News

 

[JSCh]

Chinese scientists develop polygraph based on AI technology
Xinhua Finance 2015-12-23 14:53 CHONGQING

Chinese scientists have introduced a polygraph based on facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence (AI), which is expected to detect human lies more accurately.

Jointly developed by the Cloudwalk company under the Chongqing Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the new type of polygraph was introduced earlier this week, after the release of the facial recognition system at the beginning of this month.

The polygraph can detect people's gender, tiny facial expressions, skin color, temperature, heart rate and voice characteristics through its camera and non-contact sensor. It can then analyze people's thoughts and mood based on the information collected, according to Zhou Xi, CEO of Cloudwalk company, and the head of the facial recognition project.

The core technology of the polygraph is called "AI brain." It includes six modules - facial recognition, voice recognition, semantic recognition, morphology recognition, physical recognition, and intelligence decision and control, Zhou said. "Traditional polygraphs usually use a contact sensor to detect blood pressure, pause and muscle activities of the targets, but sometimes it doesn't work on people who have received professional training," Zhou said,"the advantage of our new polygraph is the non-contact detector, which will lower the vigilance of targets." Compared with the traditional polygraph, the new model cost is quite high.The camera alone is worth about 500,000 yuan (77,200 U.S. dollars), but its advantage is obvious too, Zhang added. "It can work in both daylight and dark environment, and offer more accurate test results," said Zhang.

According to the country's 13th Five-year Plan (2016-2020), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will make efforts to promote the development in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, to guide the development of the electronics and information industry.

 

[JSCh]

Man vs machine: Robot plans to beat 80% students in exam
By Cheng Yingqi(China Daily)
Updated: 2015-12-23 07:52:54

​

Chinese IT company iFly Tek CEO Liu Qingfeng said artificial intelligence's participation in the gaokao is the best proof of its ability to learn and reason. [Photo/people.com.cn]​

Goal is to score in top 20 percent to qualify for major university admission
Chinese IT company iFly Tek is developing an artificial intelligence robot that will take part in the country's college entrance exam in 2020, with the goal of beating 80 percent of the students in China, the company announced at a product launch in Beijing.

"It is easy for AI to pass an exam, because the machine has much stronger memory ability than humans. But to beat 80 percent of students - which means it can enroll at a key university in China - is difficult," said Liu Qingfeng, the company's CEO.

The national college entrance exam, also known as the gaokao, is one of the most highly competitive exams and has about 9 million participants across China every year.

"AI's participation in the gaokao is the best proof of its ability to learn and reason," Liu said.

The project is sponsored by Program 863, an initiative endorsed by then-leader Deng Xiaoping in 1986 to boost high-tech development.

"Performing well in the gaokao requires advanced technology in human-machine interaction, knowledge management and inference-learning, which are the key technologies we are committed to developing through this project," Liu said.

Now the AI device, known as iFly Hyperbrain, performs well in tests on politics and essay writing, showcasing its ability to think.

Currently Japan is developing an AI named Todai, which is scheduled to participate in Japan's National Center Test for University Admissions in 2016.

In September, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in the United States, also known as AI2, announced that it had created an AI system that can solve SAT college test geometry questions as well as the average 11th-grade student in the country - a breakthrough in AI research.

Between 2009 and 2013, some $17 billion was poured into the AI sector, which has seen 60 percent annual growth, according to a report published in 2014 by quantitative analysis firm Quid.

Hu Yu, senior deputy president of iFly Tek, said the fast development of AI in recent years is tied to the rise of neural network technology and big data.

"Most important, the Internet has changed the way we think. In the past, we tried to ensure that every detail was perfect before we transferred lab research into products. But now we put the AI online even though it still needs much improvement, and we complete the perfection process with feedback from tens of thousands of users," he said.

Based on current technology, the company has created two products: one to evaluate students' in-class performance so that teachers can assign different homework to students according to gaps of their knowledge; the other can score students' oral English competence, which has replaced teachers' scoring in the gaokao in Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as in a number of other key tests nationwide.

"The concept of AI was proposed 60 years ago, but scientists had no luck developing a true AI. Now we are at the edge of success because millions of users are providing rich materials for the machine to learn," Hu said.

 

[bobsm]

After decades of innovation catch-up, China moves to the fore

English.news.cn 2015-12-22 20:27:29

BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- In the Pingshan industrial zone in south China's Shenzhen City, BYD's hexagonal museum is a must-see for more than architectural reasons, as it charts the company's path from workshop to world-beater.

From batteries through computers to electric vehicles, BYD's progress in only two decades is nothing short of phenomenal. Today, one in every 10 new energy passenger vehicles sold worldwide is made by BYD.

It was innovation that took BYD to the status it enjoys today: the Chinese auto-maker with the most patents, across many industries.

About 800 km north of Shenzhen, a low-speed maglev train links downtown Changsha to the airport. Test operations begin at the end of this month. Intellectual property rights generated by the project are all Chinese.

The train was created by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive, a subsidiary of rolling-stock giant CRRC, the company whose high-speed trains link almost all parts of China and are beginning to connect the world.

In North China's port of Tianjin, Tianjin Motor Dies, a leading motor dies producer in the world, is no longer waiting for orders or design papers, but is evaluating vehicle appearance design and helping car makers improve their ideas.

Innovation is nothing new in China, but now it is the center of considerable government attention. In late October, the Communist Party of China made innovation one of five key concepts in the 2016 to 2020 five-year plan.

China's decades of rapid growth were driven mostly by foreign technology and imported practices along with domestic advantages in labor costs, but now China's home-grown technology is starting to catch up with developed countries'.

Hu Angang, director of the center for China studies at Tsinghua University, believes that world economic history shows two patterns of development: pursuer-style, featuring high growth with borrowed technology; and innovative-style, with reduced growth, but greater contributions to mankind's knowledge base.

"China is transforming from pursuer to innovator, like the United States in the early 20th century," Hu said, adding that only the United States had successfully completed the transformation.

China is quickly catching up. In 2008, the first high-speed railway linked Beijing with Shanghai. Seven years later the country has more than 17,000 km of high-speed track.

In 1995, the United States had 1,750 times more internet users than China. In a reversal of fortune, China now has twice as many as the United States; remarkable progress by any standard.

Companies such as Huawei, Lenovo and Alibaba are becoming household names the world over, and it is mostly down to home-grown innovation.

Less than 10 years since its founding, drone-maker DJI meets about 70 percent of world civilian demand with a market value around 10 billion U.S. dollars.

"Our innovation comes from our personnel," said vice president Oliver Wang. About 40 percent of DJI staff work in R&D. The company is ready to open an R&D center in Palo Alto, California and looking forward to the time when people from all industries find uses for unmanned aerial vehicles in their work. After the catastrophic Nepal earthquake in April, DJI drones were used to map the disaster area, helping rescue and reconstruction work.

Innovation is being supported by governments at all levels. DJI's home in Nanshan District of Shenzhen is also the site of the headquarters of some of most trendy companies in China like ZTE, Tencent and software producer Kingdee.

In 2015 the R&D/GDP ratio in Nanshan is expected to hit 6 percent, 3.7 percentage point higher than that of the country as a whole and over 1 percentage point higher than that of Israel, which tops the world in the ratio. In the past eight years the district has provided technology startups with lending facilities of 4 billion yuan at a cost of only 200 million.

China still lags behind in many sectors, such as basic science, new materials and major equipment manufacturing industries, but Mark Bartlam of Nankai University, Tianjin, is optimistic.

"Innovation cannot be planned, expected or taught. It will take time and it will come sooner or later," the British biochemist said, adding that China has already has conditions for major breakthroughs, including talented students, high-quality and hardworking scientists, and unprecedented policy support.

"Pursuing," Hu Angang said, "is eye-catching, but innovation is sustainable when focused on quality and efficiency. The transformation of a 10-trillion-dollar plus economy will be a great contribution to the world."

Xinhua Insight: After decades of innovation catch-up, China moves to the fore
- Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[JSCh]

Could fast radio bursts be produced by collisions between neutron stars and asteroids?
December 23, 2015 by Tomasz Nowakowski

Artist impression of a fast radio burst reaching Earth. Photo credit: Jingchuan Yu, Beijing Planetarium​

(Phys.org)—Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short bursts of radio emissions from the sky lasting only few milliseconds. However, their origin is still unknown, perplexing astronomers for years since the discovery of the first FRB in 2007. According to various studies, these peculiar radio bursts could be a product of a supernova, two black holes colliding, a spinning neutron star, or they could be related to hyperflares of magnetars. Now, astronomers from the Nanjing University in China are offering another explanation for this puzzling question, asking if collisions of asteroids with neutron stars are producing FRBs.

A paper, detailing the latest finding, co-authored by Yong Feng Huang and Jin-Jun Geng, was published online in the arXiv journal on Dec. 21.

The authors of the paper, using the data from about ten FRBs, obtained key parameters that could help solve the mystery of these radio bursts. FRBs were generally discovered through single-pulse search methods by using archive data of wide-field pulsar surveys at the multi-beam 64-meter Parkes radio telescope in Australia and the 305-meter Arecibo telescope, located in Puerto Rico.

Read more at: Could fast radio bursts be produced by collisions between neutron stars and asteroids?

More information: Collision between Neutron Stars and Asteroids as a Mechanism for Fast Radio Bursts, arXiv:1512.06519 [astro-ph.HE] arxiv.org/abs/1512.06519

Abstract
As a new kind of radio transient sources detected at ∼1.4 GHz, fast radio bursts are specially characterized by their short durations and high intensities. Although only ten events are detected so far, fast radio bursts may actually frequently happen at a rate of ∼103 —- 104 sky−1 day−1. We suggest that fast radio bursts can be produced by the collisions between neutron stars and asteroids. This model can naturally explain the millisecond duration of fast radio bursts. The energetics and event rate can also be safely accounted for. Fast radio bursts thus may be one side of the multifaces of the neutron star-small body collision events, which are previously expected to lead to X-ray/gamma-ray bursts or glitch/anti-glitches.​

 

[JSCh]

First Haiyang AP1000 unit passes containment tests
23 December 2015

Tests of the containment vessel of the first AP1000 unit under construction at the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China have been completed, Westinghouse announced yesterday. The tests were completed two days ahead of schedule.

Haiyang 1's containment vessel top head was installed in March 2013
(Image: Westinghouse)​

The two-part tests to confirm that the containment vessel meets design and construction quality requirements began on 30 November. The first part - the structural integrity test - involved the vessel being pressurized and monitored to confirm that its design and construction meet all applicable industry codes and standards at 110% of design pressure. This test was completed on 6 December.

The vessel was then pressurized to design pressure and the integrated leak rate test was performed to demonstrate its ability to prevent the release of radioactive materials in the event of an emergency. This was completed on 9 December. Westinghouse said final data reports on the testing are in process and will be issued by the end of the year.

Westinghouse noted that the Haiyang 1 containment tests were completed two days ahead of schedule. The testing team, it said, used the experience gained from the containment tests completed last month at unit 1 of the Sanmen plant, also an AP1000. By doing so they were able to "pre-emptively troubleshoot potential testing challenges and increase efficiency, leading to shorter test duration".

Westinghouse senior vice president for new plants and major projects Jeff Benjamin said, "The containment vessel pressure testing is another significant milestone in the delivery of one of the world's first AP1000 nuclear power plants and confirms the integrity of the containment vessel structure." He added, "Westinghouse and our delivery partners remain on a clear path to project completion."

Westinghouse is currently constructing four AP1000 units in China, two each at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and Haiyang in Shandong. Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating, in September 2016. Haiyang 1 is expected to start up by the end of 2016. All four Chinese AP1000s are scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2017.

Four AP1000 reactors are being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer - while three AP1000s are also proposed for the Moorside site in the UK.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News

First Haiyang AP1000 unit passes containment tests

 

[JSCh]

Newly discovered rock by Chinese rover sheds light on lunar volcanism
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-12-24 14:29:46

A new type of basaltic rock, discovered by Chinese moon rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit) during an unmanned lunar exploration mission, may help shed light on lunar volcanism.

The rock was sampled at a fresh crater called Zi Wei, a landing site of Chang'e-3, which reached the moon with the rover in December 2013.

Measurements of the rock composition indicate that the basalt contains a high enrichment of titanium dioxide and olivine. Researchers from China and the United States said the basalt is distinctive from samples collected by the Apollo and Luna missions, carried out by the United States and the former Soviet Union decades ago.

They reckon the area was covered in a late-stage magma ocean during the moon's development around three billion years ago. While rock samples found by the Apollo and Luna missions mainly date back from the early-stage magma oceans between three and four billion years ago.

The measurements were made by the rover-mounted Active Particle-induced X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Visible and Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS).

A team of scientists from China and the United States, led by Ling Zongcheng from China's Shandong University, published the findings on the journal Nature Communications this week.

"The chemical and mineralogical information of the landing site provides new grounds for some of the youngest volcanism on the moon," said the journal.

Yutu was designed to roam the lunar surface for three months while surveying for natural resources and sending data back to earth. However, mechanical problems made it unable to move in January 2014, though authorities said later it was still able to send data back to earth.

 

[JSCh]

China develops heavy-ion medical accelerator
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-12-24 16:47:20

Chinese researchers have developed a heavy-ion medical accelerator to be used in radiotherapy for cancer, researchers said Thursday.

A recent test of the machine's beam was successful, marking the end of China's dependence on imported equipment, according to researchers with the Institute of Modern Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is based in northwest China's Gansu Province.

The researchers said the newly-developed machine is able to accelerate carbon ion beams to 400 mega electron volts per nucleon and provide slow and resonant non-linear extraction.

Modern day cancer radiation treatments employ heavy-ion accelerators to bombard a target with high-energy electrons to kill cancer cells.

The institute started developing the machine from May 2012 after six decades of research. Currently only one Chinese hospital, based in Shanghai, has imported the expensive equipment from abroad for cancer treatment.

As soon as the accelerator passes evaluation and inspection by the China Food and Drug Administration, clinical tests will start before the machine is finally put into full use for therapy.

China's first home-grown medical heavy ion accelerator hurls beams of ions

• People's Daily Online
  
• 18:04, December 25, 2015

China's first home-grown medical heavy ion accelerator has successfully hurled beams of ions, according to the Institute of Modern Physics of China's Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Dec. 24, 2015. In the future, the ion beam treatment of cancers will not need to rely on the foreign equipment.

China began to develop the accelerator which is placed in Wuwei city, northwest China's Gansu province in May 2012. The accelerator can give heavy ion beam treatment to patients suffering from cancers of rare types, cancers which are not suitable for surgery and cancers that have a high probability of recurrence after treated in other ways.

China has only one set of imported heavy ion accelerator in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.

The scientists of the Institute of Modern Physics of the CAS revealed that they can apply for a test for the accelerator by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) after it hurled beams of ions. This accelerator can be used to treat cancer patients if it passes the test of the CFDA and meets the requirements of the clinical trials.

(Editor:Ma Xiaochun,Bianji)​

 

[bobsm]

Maglev on trial run in central China
English.news.cn
2015-12-26 16:51:38 | Editor: Xiang Bo

Photo taken on Dec. 26, 2015 shows a magnetic suspended train in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. China's first low and medium speed magnetic suspended railway was put into test run in Changsha on Dec. 26. China has independent intellectural property rights on the 18.55-kilometer railway. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao)

Photo taken on Dec. 26, 2015 shows a train running on a magnetic suspended railway in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. China's first low and medium speed magnetic suspended railway was put into test run in Changsha on Dec. 26. China has independent intellectural property rights on the 18.55-kilometer railway. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao)

Photo taken on Dec. 26, 2015 shows the test running ceremony of a magnetic suspended railway in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. China's first low and medium speed magnetic suspended railway was put into test run in Changsha on Dec. 26. China has independent intellectural property rights on the 18.55-kilometer railway. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao)

For more photos: Maglev on trial run in central China - Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[cirr]

Server, data services provider Inspur eyes foreign markets

By Gao Yuan (China Daily)

Updated: 2015-12-17 07:26

Products of the Inspur Group Ltd are on display at an exhibition in Beijing. [Wu Changqing / For China Daily]

Inspur Technologies Co Ltd, the leading Chinese server and data services provider, is now focused squarely on expanding its business outside of the country, particularly in Europe and Africa, according to Chairman and CEO Sun Pishu.

He said major Chinese telecommunications equipment vendors such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corporation had already created widespread networks in the regions.

"Now it is our turn to add data centers and services on top of that infrastructure," Sun said.

The country's Belt and Road Initiative and the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank－flagship economic programs which will help strengthen relationship with neighboring economies－also offer Inspur what Sun called a "golden opportunity" to sell its products to the government agencies and large enterprises involved in both.

"Technically, many of our overseas customers now face similar challenges when it comes to education, healthcare and energy that China had to tackle in the past," said Sun.

Gene Cao, a Beijing-based analyst with Forrester Research Inc, said some Chinese IT companies still face fierce competition when it comes to winning overseas customers, because domestic vendors are still relative newcomers on the world stage.

"It is easier to gain market share in lower-end markets where they can compete well on price. But often the technology gap makes it difficult to enter higher-end markets," said Cao.

Sun said, however, he is confident that with sustained investment in research and development, Inspur is capable of taking on high-end markets, and so has pledged to increase its R&D spending to 12 percent of annual revenue over the next five years from the current 7 percent.

In recent months, there have been various headline acquisitions by cash-rich Chinese tech giants, in an effort to address their technology shortcomings.

Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd, for instance, is buying stakes in two Taiwan-based chipmakers for 13.5 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), while Lenovo Group Ltd earlier bought IBM's x86 server unit.

"Inspur has no intention of fueling its expansion by acquisition, and will instead be relying instead on development its own cutting-edge technology.

"We have a very different approach when it comes to expansion. We also prefer to sign partnerships to beef up the business," Sun said .

Inspur has maintained steady growth over the past five years, fueled by ongoing domestic demand for information technology products and data analytical services.

Rising concern over data security has also helped the Jinan-based firm gain market share of the government-procurement sector, previously dominated by United States vendors including IBM Corp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

According to recent figures from industry consultancy International Data Corporation, Chinese server vendors－led by Inspur and Lenovo－took more than half of that procurement market this year, up from less than a fifth in 2011.

Server, data services provider Inspur eyes foreign markets - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn

 

[JSCh]

Special tanks help fight urban and forest fires

• 2015-12-28 08:59
• China Daily

Firefighting tanks can cross half-meter-high obstacles and spray water as far as 65 meters. (Photo: China Daily/Zhang Lihong)​

China's largest land arms producer, China North Industries Group Corp, has developed a series of firefighting tanks that can be used in urban areas and to control forest blazes.

Made by Inner Mongolia First Machinery, a subsidiary, the tanks are in service with at least 28 firefighting departments in Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hunan provinces.

The latest type, designed to control forest fires, has received 50 orders and is being delivered to buyers, China North Industries said in a statement.

With the chassis and armor of a military tank, the vehicles can protect crew members from fire, explosions, building collapses and can cross half-meter-high obstacles or 2-meter-wide trenches. They have an automatic spray device and fireproof coating that can prevent scorching heat from spreading inside the vehicles.

Compared with fire engines, the tanks can get closer to blaze scenes and be used for search-and-rescue missions, according to the statement.

Using 520-horsepower diesel engines and equipped with hydraulic devices, the tanks can clear obstacles weighing up to 15 metric tons. Their metal tracks allow them to operate on slopes, in rocky terrain and among the debris of collapsed buildings.

The water cannon on the vehicles can spray water as far as 65 meters. A secondary water gun, which can be fitted if required, can be used to disperse rioters.

Buyers can choose to install a sensor that can detect flammable and toxic gases, the company said.

"A single tank can spray nearly 15 tons of water onto a fire within 1 minute-equivalent to the capacity of six fire engines," said a firefighter in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, who wanted to be identified only as Fang.

"It can operate deep into a fire scene without putting the firefighters' safety at risk. It has good mobility and protection, allowing us to handle dangerous situations such as chemical blasts and toxic leaks."

He said many injuries to firefighters are caused by explosions and buildings collapsing as they enter a blaze scene where debris has prevented fire engines from getting closer.

Russia and Germany have also transformed old tanks into firefighting vehicles.

 

[JSCh]

Huawei Marine to build trans-Atlantic cable system

• 2015-12-28 14:21
• CRIENGLISH.com

Huawei Marine Networks is contracted to construct Cameroon-Brazil Cable System (CBCS), connecting Africa to Latin America. (Photo/huaweimarine.com)​

Huawei Marine Networks is looking to construct a Cameroon-Brazil Cable System (CBCS), connecting Africa to Latin America.

The project is invested by CamTel, China Unicom and Telefónica, who will support the initiative by providing their international facilities and experience.

The four parties involved sealed the agreement in October this year.

Sales director for Huawei Marine's business in Middle East and Africa, Lan Tu, says the project will meet the increasing demand for Internet access in the two regions, which are strategically emerging market for Chinese telecom operators.

CBCS, which is approximately 6,000 km long, will cross the south Atlantic sea connecting Kribi, Cameroon to Fortaleza, Brazil. Utilising Huawei Marine's leading 100G technology, it will have an initial system capacity of 32 Tbps with 4 fiber pairs. The system will come into service at the end of 2017.

Huawei Marine will deploy its 6fp submarine Repeater 1660, the industry's first innovative titanium repeater, which boasts a slim-line profile to allow direct lay and plough burial for the installation. This simultaneous operation significantly reduces system installation costs by eliminating the need for an expensive secondary, post-lay burial operation.