The smartest Asian Games ever
Hangzhou Asian Games creates a "digital model" for international top events
Author/ IT Times reporter Sun Yan
Editors: Qian Lifu, Sun Yan
Holding a torch, the giant ran all the way, crossing the Qiantang River and running to the "Big Lotus" stadium, leaving a string of numbers behind him: 105791208. Then, together with Olympic champion Wang Shun, the giant extended the torch to the torch tower to "tide", and the Asian Games flame was burned to the top of the tower, and the whole audience boiled.
This is the first lighting ceremony in the history of the Asian Games in which a "digital human" participates, and this "digital human" is the embodiment of 105791208 "digital torchbearers" around the world who participated in the ignition. These "digital torchbearers" each receive a digital certificate, which is permanently stored on the blockchain to cherish the moment forever.
In addition to 100 million people participating in the ignition, there are also 100 million official mini programs used by 100 million people, 100,000 people surfing the Internet at the same time, etc., these amazing numbers show that this is an Asian Games with "digital and real integration", an Asian Games that meets the future.
Smarter Asian Games
1 second for 100 million people
Behind one second of more than 100 million people is 200,000 lines of code knocked down by Alipay's technical engineers. All of this vision of digital and real integration can become a reality, based on a 5G network that can carry 100,000 people to the Internet at the same time.
Knock down 200,000 lines of code
"We decided to create the first digital ignition ceremony with the participation of all people, so that everyone can participate in the Asian Games in the digital world, carry forward the Olympic spirit, and use the integration of technology and art to convey the most extreme romance of Chinese: gathering together in a fire, the end of the world is at this time", said Sha Xiaolan, the chief director of the opening ceremony, "We need a platform that can really accommodate hundreds of millions of people at the same frequency." The Asian organizing committee recommended Alipay to us and thanked Alipay's hundreds of technical engineers."
Over the past three years, Alipay engineers have knocked down 200,000 lines of code to achieve the goal that everyone can participate in the online torch relay and lighting ceremony. Finally, even mobile phone users from 8 years ago can successfully become digital torchbearers.
Behind the help of high-energy self-developed technology, the Web3D interaction engine Galacean is the key to supporting hundreds of millions of people to participate in real-time immersive interaction. In the 2023 Spring Festival Festival, Galacean has been "rehearsed" because it can greatly compress the size of data packets, which is very friendly to mobile phones with small memory and slow operation, even old mobile phones.
There is a wireless compatibility test room in the Alipay office building, which is the busiest place before the product goes online. On one wall, there are densely packed mobile phones of different ages and models, with more than 300 units.
The digital ignition certificate received by the digital torchbearer is engraved with a unique digital human image of the torchbearer. In fact, the "face pinching artifact" developed by Alipay engineers can create 2 trillion digital people. During the online torch relay ceremony, each digital twin had a different face and attire.
Another one that can be preserved forever is the first digital cauldron tower in the history of the Asian Games, and the first digital licensed commodity of the Asian Games that can be upgraded and transformed. The Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee released on Alipay, which is confirmed by blockchain technology and issued, and then given a unique hash value to each limited collection by smart contract technology, which cannot be erased or copied, forever commemorating the Hangzhou Asian Games as a sports event that everyone can participate in.
Another classic moment of digital and real integration at the opening ceremony was when 10,000 spectators flew wishing lights, summoned mascots, and sent postcards through Alipay, realizing the world's first large-scale AR (augmented reality) interactive performance.
For several months, Alipay's 30-person technical team entered the big lotus at different times in various extreme weather, day and night, collected 10-20 seconds of data at different angles and in different ways in 3 floors, 24 areas and 216 points, accumulated more than 400,000 frames of image data, "feeded" to AI algorithm training, and the final recognition success rate exceeded 95%, and spectators sitting in the corner in dark light can also summon the "three little ones" mascot.
"We want tens of thousands of spectators to be part of the live performance." Chief director Sha Xiaolan said, "This is also a manifestation of the intelligent Asian Games, with the power of scientific and technological innovation, to create the classic memory of the Asian Games. ”
100,000 people went online at the same time
In this opening ceremony, which can accommodate 100,000 people, the digital human torchbearer composed of 100 million people can run quickly, tens of thousands of people can summon mascots and release wishing lights on the scene by "sweeping" in seconds, and the entire opening ceremony uses the mobile phones of tens of thousands of people on the scene to achieve the effect of film and television special effects, everything is running on a stable 5G network.
How to ensure that 100,000 people can go online at the same time? Hanging over the stadium is an extremely fast network of 300MHz 5G pRRUs, with measured speeds of up to 4.34Gbps, approaching the theoretical peak rate of 4.5Gbps. Zhejiang Telecom has done extreme stress tests, and 400 5G mobile phones can achieve a variety of typical service concurrency at the same time within 2 square meters.
This is a "smart" network, Zhejiang Telecom pioneered the three-carrier aggregation, spatiotemporal cognitive technology, which can accurately predict the network experience and adapt flexibly, and can automatically locate network problems to accurately guarantee. Behind this, there is also a "central brain" that commands communication support, and discovers the problem of "one cloud and six networks" in the fastest time.
China Telecom's communication optical cable for the Asian Games is more than 500,000 core kilometers long, which can circle the earth 12 times.
When deploying this net, it is still necessary to measure every inch of land by foot. In the 1.13-square-kilometer Asian Games Village alone, China Telecom's network support personnel travel 45,000 steps a day. In the entire Asian Games event guarantee, China Telecom sent more than 3,500 communications troops. "Once the network fails, we need to recover quickly within 15 minutes." A person in charge of the Hangzhou Telecom Asian Games Village Support Group said.
After the deployment, China Telecom also dispatched "black technology" and emergency communication iron army double backup, there are AR glasses inspection in the computer room, drone inspection along the main optical cable to reduce the burden, and dozens of emergency communication vehicles on the ground are waiting for it.
After five years of preparation, behind a smart Asian Games is a large-scale training of China's communication network and China's Internet technology.
Smart tour of the Asian Games
"Digital Real World" in Metaverse and Mini Programs
In addition to the opening ceremony, the wisdom factor has been integrated into many details of online and offline viewing. The metaverse world witnessed by every athlete and media reporter, 100 million people are using the official mini program of the Asian Games, and every foreign tourist is "sweeping", the Hangzhou Asian Games has created a digital model for international top events.
Enter the "Asian Games Metaverse"
In the Asian Games Village, athletes and journalists can ride on an "AR smart bus" that shuttles between the real and virtual worlds. Equipped with SenseTime's Level 4 autonomous driving solution, the smart bus can not only deliver passengers safely to their destinations, but also take everyone into a beautiful virtual world: from the window, on the real-time street scene of Hangzhou, Hangzhou's characteristic cultural landmarks such as the beauty of West Lake, the spring color of Gongchen, and the Liangzhu ruins appear, and passengers exclaimed to express the surprise of changing scenery.
This is the Asian Games with the largest number of venues and the largest area in history, with 56 competition venues in 6 prefectures and cities in Zhejiang, and the construction area of the "Big Lotus" stadium alone exceeds 200,000 square meters. On the eve of the opening of the Asian Games, the "IT Times" reporter visited the Asian Games Village, Little Lotus, Riverside Stadium, etc., and a big feeling was that it was really not easy to find entrances and exits, seats, toilets, etc.
To this end, the Hangzhou Asian Games launched a very practical AR navigation service, from the "Smart Asian Games One-stop Pass" mini program to the "AR service", you can enter the "Asian Games AR service platform" created by SenseTime.
Spectators watching the game in Hangzhou "Big and Small Lotus", Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Huanglong Sports Center Stadium and Gymnasium can use SenseTime's "AR Venue Navigation" to guide the way, and spectators only need to follow the virtual arrows and text instructions projected on the ground to accurately identify the direction and no longer lose their way.
In many venues such as the Olympic Sports Center, the Huanglong Sports Center, and the Hangzhou E-sports Center in China, spectators can also query various schedules and venue information through the Asian Games "AR smart screen" to plan the "Asian Games trip" in one stop. Spectators can also wear "AR glasses" to enjoy the West Lake culture, Gongchen Spring and Liangzhu ruins, audio-visual feasts of football, weightlifting, wrestling and other sports in a virtual world set against the real scene, and interact with the mascots of the Asian Games.
In addition to SenseTime's AR, China Telecom has also launched services such as VR viewing, bullet time and glasses-free 3D, allowing every online and offline audience to have a VIP perspective.
Put on VR glasses and sit in the stands of the Riverside Stadium where the athletes are sweating and fighting, and in the VR world, you can even jump off the stands to see it up close, and even the sweat beads on the athletes' faces can be clearly seen. Spectators watching the game in front of the TV can watch the moment of freeze frame 360°, which is bullet time. When you walk into the Asian Games Village Commercial Center, you can experience the same naked-eye 3D of athletes, and after warming up in the gym on the side, you can come to the beach to lie down and relax. Step into a "little black house" and travel through the rainforest by the sea, watch seagulls hover overhead, and be in a 3D virtual world without wearing any equipment.
Without the blessing of 5G, 5.5G and gigabit optical networks, these metaverse applications would not have become a reality. In the Asian Games venues deployed by Zhejiang Telecom, the network delay is less than 100 milliseconds.
At the Binjiang Stadium, the IT Times reporter also witnessed 5G-Advanced (5.5G) and a RIS board that reflects the signal, achieving seamless coverage of 5.5G, and the network speed of the weak signal coverage area has increased to 20 times the original, while the cost is only one-tenth of that of small base stations.
The 5.5G that appeared on the Asian Games for the first time also made the Hangzhou Asian Games truly usher in the meta-universe moment.
Online, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee launched the world's first one-stop digital viewing service platform - Smart Asian Games One-stop Pass.
This mini program is used by 100 million people and has been visited 4.3 billion times.
In the preliminary research, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee found that the Jakarta Asian Games made 9 apps, and the Incheon Asian Games invested heavily in the app, but the supported scenarios and the number of users reached were small. To achieve a digital Asian Games with "the lowest cost, the highest efficiency, the most complete capacity, the widest coverage, and the largest reuse", Mini Programs have become the best choice. To this end, Alipay opened 20 platform digital technologies, joined hands with 15 partners such as SenseTime, and more than 20,000 service merchants to jointly realize the Asian Games on the mini program. With everyone's efforts, the development cost has been reduced by more than 50%, and the R&D cycle has been shortened by half.
For users, they do not need to add any app, search for "Asian Games" on Alipay, and can use 28 functions such as ticket purchase, inquiry, travel, viewing and visiting museums on the "Smart Asian Games One-stop Pass" mini program.
Hangzhou is the host city of this Asian Games, and Huzhou, Jinhua, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou are co-host cities. If the audience wants to visit these Zhejiang cities and taste the local specialties in addition to watching the games, they can customize the itinerary and view the strategy through the "Smart Asian Games One-stop Pass" mini program. At the same time, the Mini Program also provides practical functions such as real-time translation and currency exchange points.
After the event, the "Smart Asian Games One-Stop Access" Mini Program will be handed over to the designated operator of the organizing committee, and the operator can continue to provide digital services for the city through appropriate transformation and functional iteration, such as event and exhibition operation.
Alipay that foreign tourists can't get around
Some people quipped that the seven words that a foreigner must learn to enter China are "hello, thank you, Alipay".
Whether you are eating a scallion bun on the streets of Hangzhou or booking a cruise on West Lake, you can use Alipay.
Foreign tourists only need to bind mainstream overseas bank cards on Alipay, including Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club, Discover, or even Alipay without downloading, directly use overseas e-wallets to scan Alipay QR codes. At present, Alipay has been connected to 10 overseas wallets, covering more than 175 million consumers in Southeast Asia and East Asia.
As long as you learn to "scan" the action and understand the "common language" of mobile payment, whether it is offline consumption, transportation or online booking of hotels, air tickets, scenic spot tickets, etc., foreign tourists can easily carry it out.
For merchants, taxi drivers, and scenic spot service personnel, there is no need to add or modify payment equipment, as long as there is an Alipay payment code, you can open the door to welcome customers around the world.
Hangzhou Asian Games is the most intelligent Asian Games in history, and the technical personnel of science and technology enterprises such as China Telecom, Alipay and SenseTime measured the huge Asian Games venues with their steps, and used the most "stupid" methods and the highest scientific and technological strength to jointly contribute a digital model of an international top event.
Typesetting / Ji Jiaying
Photo/ China Telecom, Alipay, SenseTime
Source: IT Times public account vittimes
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