From military industry and national defense to commercial aerospace, what has Kunyu Lancheng, a private "special forces", learned?

[51CTO.com original article] At the beginning of the article, the author first raised three questions:

If an adventurer who loves wild travel gets lost in the primeval forest and has no cell phone signal, how can he escape?

The sudden earthquake destroyed all the communication base stations. How can we learn about the local disaster situation in real time?

When a large cargo ship encounters a sudden tsunami on the high seas, how can it seek help in such a harsh environment with strong winds, heavy rain and surging waves?

Smart netizens may have discovered that these three seemingly unrelated questions actually describe the same dilemma: how to transmit information when there is no transmission channel on the ground? The answer is actually very simple. If there is no signal on the ground, then look for it in the sky and use satellite signals to achieve network communication!

Since 2014, my country's aerospace applications have been continuously releasing huge potential. From aerospace manufacturing, satellite networking to space-based system applications, the commercial aerospace ecosystem has basically taken shape. Small satellite networks with communications, remote sensing and navigation as their main applications are gradually entering people's daily lives with their unique advantages such as low cost, high quality and seamless global coverage.

Kunyu Lancheng (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kunyu Lancheng") is a professional company that provides technical services for space satellite networks. Since its establishment in 2012, Kunyu Lancheng has focused on providing services to customers in the military and defense industries. With the development of commercial aerospace, Kunyu Lancheng's technical advantages in satellite Internet have gradually emerged, and it can provide the aerospace field with satellite network system construction, aerospace semi-physical simulation, satellite payload platform integrated testing, networked measurement, operation and control, information system development and integration, verification environment construction, and visual simulation and other solutions.

Recently, the reporter interviewed Wang Jinsheng, chairman of Kunyu Bluetech, who was very clear about the company's value and positioning in the commercial aerospace ecosystem. Wang Jinsheng told the reporter half-jokingly and half-seriously that in China's commercial aerospace ecosystem, although Kunyu Bluetech is only a "supporting role", it is an important "supporting role". The company positions itself as a "special force" of private enterprises in the military industry - with a small number of personnel, but capable and creating relatively large value. "Kunyu Bluetech is doing its best to assist the 'main players of the national team' such as China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation to jointly build a strong commercial aerospace country."

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Neither slow nor fast, witnessing the rapid development of commercial spaceflight

Unlike many entrepreneurs who are eager for quick success, Wang Jinsheng has always controlled the development rhythm of the company, taking steady steps one by one. From three or five people in the early days of the business to dozens of people today, Kunyu Lancheng has continuously accumulated technical strength and the foundation of deep understanding of industry customers. "In the field of aerospace, product technology is important, but what customers value most is the accurate understanding and application services of aerospace business, which is exactly what Kunyu Lancheng is good at. This is a soft power that requires long-term accumulation, and it cannot be solved by simply hiring a product manager." Wang Jinsheng said that he and another founder of the company had worked in the military industry for many years and were very familiar with the business characteristics of military and national defense customers. Therefore, the products, solutions and services developed by them can truly solve customer pain points and gradually have a good reputation in the industry. Because of this, when a large number of private enterprises fell in the stagnation period of commercial aerospace development, Kunyu Lancheng not only survived, but also seized the favorable policy environment in 2017 and quickly rejuvenated.

According to Wang Jinsheng, Kunyu Lancheng's core business is currently centered around space-based Internet. It has built a complete ecological chain from solution design, system simulation verification, product testing, application services, etc., and can provide a full range of services for the "Hongyan System", "Hongyun Project", and the National Space-Earth Integrated Network. "My understanding of space-based network is to build a network in the air to solve problems that ground-based Internet cannot solve. Wang Jinsheng said that before the satellite is launched into space and networked, a lot of work needs to be done on the ground. Kunyu Lancheng has been involved since this stage, providing pre-, mid-, and post-services for large-scale satellite networking. At present, Kunyu Lancheng's product system is divided into three parts. The first is shelf products with completely independent intellectual property rights, such as multi-port space-based network environment simulators, protocol simulation support systems, etc.; the second is to provide satellite network construction, maintenance, and application solutions, such as satellite network system solutions, test solutions, and integrated solutions for on-board routing and transmission; the third is to provide customized development and integration services based on the special needs of customer businesses, such as laser-based space-based network verification systems and space-based Internet of Things network system testers."

Strict thresholds cannot stop "real talents"

As we all know, aerospace technology has very high technical requirements and the quality requirements of the industry are almost strict.

Wang Jinsheng gave an example. If Kunyu Lancheng's network products are to be used in a space environment, it is necessary to simulate various physical environments in space and conduct various destructive tests, such as high and low temperature, vibration, particle flipping, electromagnetic compatibility, etc., to ensure that the products can function normally in harsh environments.

In addition, unlike the traditional civilian market, customers have very high privacy requirements for product applications. In many cases, technical engineers are required to go to the location specified by the customer to start work. The difficulty brought about by this is that the difficulty of matching the company's resources is greatly increased, and personnel scheduling and resource coordination are not easy; not only that, due to the relatively long construction cycle in the military industry, which can be as short as one year and as long as three to four years, customer needs will also change over time, which tests Kunyu Lancheng's technical adaptability and service continuity.

In terms of industry technology accumulation, Kunyu Lancheng has not only obtained dozens of patents and software copyrights, but also launched its own products from the standard system in terms of the implementation of the space-ground integrated network, such as networking standards, interface standards, coding specifications, testing specifications, etc. In Wang Jinsheng's view, satellite networking is very difficult, and there are many uncertainties. For example, low-orbit satellites move very fast, and whether they are high orbit, medium orbit or low orbit, they are much less flexible than on the ground. With the increase in the number of satellites, satellite network management, measurement, operation and control are a very big challenge. He admitted that how to achieve interconnection and interoperability between heterogeneous satellites and between satellite networks and ground networks is still in the exploration stage. "Many domestic companies, including Kunyu Lancheng, have accumulated a lot of technology in this area, and it is only a matter of time to solve these problems."

The "5G" in the sky is no longer far away

As the reporter asked at the beginning of the article, the "5G" network in the sky is actually very useful. Wang Jinsheng gave two examples: If a cargo ship full of seafood arrives at the dock and finds that the mortality rate of seafood is very high, how should the cargo owner be held accountable? With the space-based network, sensors can be installed on containers full of seafood. Even when the cargo ship is sailing on the high seas, the cargo owner can query relevant data through the satellite network, such as the temperature and humidity of the container, whether it has been opened manually, and other information. Another example is also easy to understand. Nowadays, people talk about modern agriculture, but it costs a lot to lay optical fiber cables on the ground to the fields. At this time, through the satellite network, the detection data of water temperature and soil quality on the land sensors can be sent back to the relevant departments through satellites, so as to adjust spring plowing and autumn planting in time.

The reporter feels that there are many similar narrowband and broadband applications. Once commercial aerospace reaches the large-scale commercial stage, more abundant application scenarios will emerge. From another perspective, this also means that Kunyu Lancheng's development space is getting broader and broader.

In 2018, Wang Jinsheng felt that he had learned a lot. In addition to being more confident about the company's future development prospects, what comforted him most was that Kunyu Lancheng had a precise positioning in the field of space-earth information networks, which was recognized by academicians and professional users in the industry, and the team also attracted more like-minded people to join. Facing the upcoming 2019, Wang Jinsheng believes that this will be a year of explosive development in commercial aerospace. Kunyu Lancheng will seize the key development opportunities, work harder on team building and business expansion, and strive to double its performance.

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