Install the "strongest brain" for the governance of the Yellow River

Li Bing uses drones to collect data in the reservoir area of The Qingtongxia Reservoir in Ningxia. Courtesy of respondents

xia runliang, director of the information center of the Yellow River Hydraulic Research Institute, □

On the ninth cold day, nearly 1,000 kilometers away from Zhengzhou, the temperature was approaching minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Early in the morning of January 18, Li Bing and several colleagues from Henan went to Shapotou to collect digital topographic data on the Yellow River during the flood season. Li Bing told me by phone that because the temperature in the wild is too low, the flight of the drone is very unstable, which adds difficulties to data collection.

Li Bing is a member of our team and a researcher at the Information Center of the Yellow River Hydraulic Research Institute in Ningxia. The work he and his colleagues do is to collect as much data as possible on site to provide a reference for the construction of the digital twin Yellow River.

In fact, braving the cold and the heat is the norm for our work. Last autumn, when the Yellow River faced its worst autumn flood since the founding of New China, our team sank to the Kaifeng Wang'an Control and Guidance Project, where the yellow river trend was complex and changeable, and because of the fear of the backflow and brushing caused by the heavy water topburst, the front-line patrol personnel threw stones in a large area in the dangerous area. If the digital twin Yellow River in the region is built, the flood season can simulate the direction and velocity of the water flow in advance, form a more quantitative scientific prediction and guidance, and make the rescue and disaster relief more accurate and effective.

The construction of the Digital Twin Yellow River is a huge and complex system project, which maps and feedback the whole element information of the Yellow River in the digital space to achieve digitalization

Scenario construction, simulation of the whole process of Yellow River water evolution and scheduling to achieve intelligent simulation, intelligent improvement of multiple business processes of the Yellow River, and accurate decision-making support. In layman's terms, like a pair of "twins", this number of "twin brothers" can predict the every move of the real Yellow River in advance, and provide intellectual decision-making support for the "forecast, early warning, rehearsal, and plan" of the Yellow River.

In the grand design blueprint, the key to supporting the synchronous iteration and twin simulation of the digital twin Yellow River is the mathematical model system, which relies on a number of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.

As early as 2001, the Yellow River Hydraulic Research Institute began to devote itself to this research, and after 20 years of achievement, the Yellow River mathematical simulation system has begun to achieve results. Next, how to optimize and improve to build the Yellow River simulator? We will use the Yellow River Laboratory as an innovative platform to focus on key research.

At present, the digital twin sub-laboratory of the Yellow River Laboratory has been renovated, and the modern and information-based office environment has brought more convenience to scientific research. We look forward to moving in as soon as possible and installing the "strongest brain" for the construction of the River of Happiness.

(Reporter Liu Xiaoyang/Sorting)