Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 103 Verification

The results of the full simulation were available that evening.

Tang Xu rushed excitedly into Zuo Cheng's office, clutching a stack of printing papers, his hands trembling: "President Zuo, 79.3%! All 480 satellites are online, spectrum utilization rate 79.3%!"

Seventy-nine point three percent. With the added technological boost, the actual effect will reach over ninety-five percent. But Zuo Cheng couldn't tell Tang Xu about the boost; he could only use the figure of seventy-nine point three percent for evaluation.

79.3% is 79.3%, which is less than the design target of 80%, but it has already exceeded the 75% deduction threshold. And this is only the result of the initial model; there is still room for optimization.

"Not bad," Zuo Cheng said, "but not enough. We're still 0.7 percentage points short of 80 percent."

"0.7 can be fine-tuned," Tang Xu said. "The link stability penalty weight in the reward function can be reduced a bit, while the weight of spectrum utilization can be increased slightly. The model will be more aggressive, but the spectrum utilization should be able to exceed 80%."

"We can't just tune the parameters," Zuo Cheng said. "We need to add a module for searching neural network architectures, so the model can find the optimal network structure itself."

Tang Xu was taken aback: "Architecture search? You mean NAS? That's a very new technology; none of us have worked on it before."

"I've set up the framework; you can use it directly." Zuo Cheng pulled up a piece of code on his computer. "This is the definition of the search space and the evaluation function. Change the training script to run in a distributed manner, with each of the four GPUs running one candidate architecture. You'll get the results in two hours. I've already tested it; distributed running is three times faster than single-card running."

Tang Xu stared at the code on the screen, remaining silent for a long while. The code was concise, with standardized variable naming and clear comments; it was clearly the result of careful consideration. When did Zuo Cheng learn to write deep learning code?

"Mr. Zuo, how much time did you actually spend learning AI?" Tang Xu couldn't help but ask.

"Two weeks," Zuo Cheng said. "Don't be surprised, let's get going. There are five days left until the delivery deadline; we need to push the utilization rate to over 80%."

Tang Xu didn't ask any more questions, copied the code, and ran away.

Four hours later, the NAS module finished running. The optimal architecture is a six-layer fully connected network, with two more hidden layers than the original four layers, but fewer neurons per layer. This architecture achieved 82.1% spectral efficiency on the validation set.

82.1%!

It has exceeded the design target by 80%! This means that the third phase of Sky Dome can be delivered smoothly, and the remaining 120 million yuan contract payment will not be withheld.

Tang Xu rushed into Zuo Cheng's office again with the results in hand, but this time he didn't knock.

"Eighty-two point one percent!" Tang Xu's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement. "President Zuo, we did it! The spectrum utilization rate exceeded the design target!"

Zuo Cheng stood up and took a deep breath. The weight that had been pressing on his heart for two weeks finally lifted.

"Okay. Prepare the delivery review materials," Zuo Cheng said. "Pack up the simulation environment, training scripts, model parameters, and test results, and submit them to the delivery review committee of Blue Bay Communications. Also, include the design plan for the online learning module, showing them that the model can continue to evolve after deployment."

"clear!"

After Tang Xu left, Zuo Cheng opened the system panel. The accelerated growth effect of the technology tree was still ongoing, and the number of leaves on the Internet of Things branch had grown to seventeen. The new leaf was called "Online Learning," which allowed the model to continuously learn from new data after deployment without needing to be retrained.

This blade came at the perfect time. After the satellites in Tianqiong begin operating in orbit, the environment will constantly change. If the model cannot learn online, its performance will gradually degrade. With online learning capabilities, the model can evolve as it runs, always maintaining its optimal state.

Zuo Cheng compiled a briefing outlining the key technical points of online learning, highlighting crucial parameters, intending to present it to Tang Xu at the appropriate time. However, he couldn't give it to him now; providing all the answers too quickly would arouse suspicion. He needed Tang Xu to research it on his own for a while, and only after Tang Xu encountered a bottleneck would he present online learning as a "sudden flash of inspiration."

In the afternoon, Zuo Cheng dialed Lu Mingyuan's number.

"Mr. Lu, the delivery materials for the third phase of Sky Dome are ready to be submitted. There's a technical upgrade I need to explain to you."

"What upgrade?" Lu Mingyuan's voice was as steady as ever.

"We upgraded the inter-satellite link scheduling algorithm from a fixed strategy to a deep reinforcement learning scheme. Spectrum utilization increased from 62% to 82%, exceeding the design target by two percentage points."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Eighty-two percent?" Lu Mingyuan's voice rose half an octave. "Are you sure?"

"The full simulation results show that all 480 satellites are online."

"Two weeks ago it was 62%, how did you do it?" Lu Mingyuan's tone was incredulous.

"We've developed an AI scheduling system," said Zuo Cheng. "Based on deep reinforcement learning, adaptive spectrum scheduling can dynamically optimize resource allocation according to real-time link status. This is 402's first technological breakthrough in the field of AI."

Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Zuo Cheng, you always manage to surprise me. 402 has gone from communications to IoT, and now they've moved into AI? I'll arrange a delivery review; the earliest would be the day after tomorrow."

"Okay, we're ready."

After hanging up the phone, Zuo Cheng sent Yu Ying a message: "The Tianqiong spectrum utilization rate has exceeded 82%. The review will be conducted the day after tomorrow."

Yu Ying replied instantly: "That's amazing! How did you do that, bro?"

"Secret." Zuo Cheng sent a smiling emoji.

"You're keeping us in suspense again."

Zuo Cheng put down his phone and leaned back in his chair. The breakthrough in AI not only solved the delivery problem of Tianqiong, but more importantly, it opened the door for 402 to enter the AI ​​field. The Intelligent Star Network Scheduling System is the first AI-related fusion component; more will follow.

On the technology tree, the AI ​​branch is still gray, but Zuo Cheng can sense that it is getting closer and closer to being lit up.

He stood up and walked to the window. The setting sun painted Hangzhou's skyline gold, and the distant skyscrapers shimmered with a warm light in the twilight. 402 was growing step by step, from communications to the Internet of Things to AI, each stage precisely stepping onto the right node under the guidance of the technology tree.

And all of this was known only to him. He would keep this secret forever.