Chapter 101: Mech Concepts and the Difficulty of Integration!

In the huge holographic conference room, Feng Yan stood in front of the main seat.

On the large screen behind him, it was no longer the performance curve of the "Dragon Core" motor, hailed as the "Heart of Dragon Chant," nor was it the stunning aerial posture of the "Somersault Cloud" verification machine.

Instead, it was the prototype of an extremely complex system architecture diagram with intertwined lines.

In the center of the diagram was a rugged and powerful human silhouette, marked as "Qilin Project - Prototype Platform."

Countless colored lines, like nerves and blood vessels, extended from this human silhouette.

Connecting several core modules around it: "Dragon Core Power Core," "Somersault Cloud Propulsion Backpack," "New Composite Armor (Tie Jiang Li Alloy)," "Insect Swarm Collaborative Node."

And the "Distributed Neural Network Control System" located in the head area.

"Brothers," Feng Yan's voice broke the silence in the conference room.

"Yesterday's success is an honor that belongs to each of us, and it is the country's affirmation of our capabilities.

But this honor is not the end, but a new starting point!"

His gaze swept over the faces of every core member present.

"Before Brigade Commander Gao left, he asked me, 'Feng Yan, what more exciting things can you come up with next?'" Feng Yan paused.

"My answer was—'Qilin Project'!"

"We are going to integrate all the trump card technologies in our hands to build a real combat mech that truly belongs to our Dragonguo and can define the rules of the future battlefield!"

The four words "Qilin Project," like a giant stone thrown into a calm lake, stirred up huge ripples in the conference room.

Although they were mentally prepared, when Feng Yan officially announced it himself, everyone still felt a surge of excitement.

"The goal is very clear," Feng Yan pointed to the architecture diagram on the screen.

"Integrate the power of Dragon Core, the mobility of Somersault Cloud, the protection brought by Master Li's new materials, and the reconnaissance assistance of the Insect Legion."

"Perfectly integrate all these technologies we are proud of into one platform!"

"Make it no longer a single-function piece of equipment, but a steel giant with super mobility, heavy protection, intelligent perception, and collaborative combat capabilities!"

He looked around at everyone, his tone condensed: "However, brothers, we must clearly realize."

"From single equipment R&D to complex system integration, the challenges we face are increasing geometrically."

"This is not as simple as changing a heart for Iron Wolf or adding a pair of wings to Xiao Bai."

"This is an unprecedented system engineering project!"

As soon as Feng Yan finished speaking, Li Yang was the first to speak: "Brother Feng, structural strength is the primary difficulty."

"In the preliminary concept, the mech needs to withstand the huge torque generated when the Dragon Core motor is at full power output, as well as the complex stress brought by the Somersault Cloud propulsion backpack during extreme maneuvering."

"Especially the main load-bearing joints of the waist and legs; the strength of the existing 'Iron Wolf' architecture is far from enough."

"I have designed several extreme reinforcement schemes, but..."

He pulled up several 3D structural diagrams and pointed to several areas highlighted in red:

"These reinforcement structures will cause the overall weight to soar."

"And the requirements for the precision and strength of key transmission components have exceeded the upper limit of our current conventional machining capabilities."

"More importantly..."

Li Yang's gaze turned to Wang Hao: "According to my preliminary calculations, to drive this magnitude of structure to achieve ideal tactical maneuvering."

"Especially short-range flight and explosive movement in complex terrain, the requirements for the instantaneous power and response speed of the propulsion system are at least three times higher than the 'Somersault Cloud' verification machine."

"Haozi, can your propulsion backpack do it?"

Wang Hao scratched his hair, which was always messy; the excitement just now had faded quite a bit. He stared at the data given by Li Yang and smacked his lips:

"Three times? Brother Li, is your skeleton design too 'bony'?"

"You want to use every gram of weight on the blade?"

"Yes, I admit, 'Dragon Core' is awesome, and the theoretical output is strong enough!"

"But energy conversion efficiency, the high-temperature resistance limit of the vector nozzle material, and the propellant... oh no, it's battery-driven now, but what about the instantaneous output stability of the energy?"

He looked at Zhao Kaiyuan: "Kaiyuan, can our 'Xuanwu-II' withstand this kind of instantaneous bloodletting?"

"Will it crash directly? Also, what about heat dissipation?"

"With such high power density, the area near the nozzle could probably smelt steel directly!"

"Guangzi, can the liquid cooling system you designed for 'Dragon Core' still hold up if scaled to this level?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Kaiyuan immediately discussed in a low voice with the engineers beside him, and his face quickly became grave:

"The problem Haozi mentioned is very critical."

"Instantaneous ultra-high-rate discharge causes huge damage to the battery cells and will sharply shorten their lifespan, or even trigger thermal runaway risks."

"We need to re-evaluate the series-parallel scheme and thermal management design of the battery pack, which may take time..."

After receiving the gazes from Wang Hao and Zhao Kaiyuan, Chen Guang calmly pushed up his glasses and took over the conversation:

"Energy management and heat dissipation are indeed one of the core bottlenecks."

"But the bigger problem lies in control."

He pulled up another interface, which showed complex data streams and node communication schematics:

"According to the preliminary concept, this mech needs to process data from hundreds of its own joint sensors simultaneously."

"Information from the environmental perception system (including optical, radar, acoustic, and other sensors), real-time battlefield data transmitted back by the Insect swarm, and tactical instructions from the command unit or AI assistance."

"The amount of data generated is far beyond any of our previous projects, tens or even hundreds of times that of the 'Iron Wolf' platform."

His tone still didn't have much fluctuation, but the content made everyone's heart sink:

"The existing centralized control system architecture will inevitably encounter bottlenecks when processing such massive data with low latency requirements."

"Data congestion and instruction delay will be fatal on the battlefield."

"I need to design a brand new, highly parallel and distributed 'neural network' style control system."

"But there are a lot of unknowns in terms of algorithm complexity and hardware implementation."

Zhao Gong, who had been listening silently, finally snorted and spoke:

"I don't understand much of what you guys are saying. I'll just ask one thing," he swept his gaze over Li Yang, Wang Hao, and Chen Guang.

"Such a big guy, so many messy pipes, cables, and precision parts, how do you assemble them together?"

He pointed to the complex internal structures on the holographic diagram:

"The skeleton Li kid designed is strong enough, but how much space is left for wiring and piping inside?"

"Wang Cannon, for your propulsion backpack, the nozzle needs to rotate, do the pipes need to move with it?"

"How to solve the sealing? Chen kid, for your 'neural network' set, are the cables denser than a spider web?"

"With so many systems squeezed together, how do the heat dissipation air ducts go?"

"How to shield electromagnetic interference?"

Zhao Gong's series of questions left several young technical cores speechless for a moment.

He finally thumped his thermos cup heavily, making a dull sound:

"This thing can't run just by drawing it on a diagram!"

"If you can't build it, everything is in vain!"

"With the few pieces of equipment in our workshop now, it's okay to machine some small gadgets, but the overall manufacturing and precision assembly of such large complex components are too difficult!"

"If you're not careful, what you assemble will be a piece of scrap iron that falls apart the moment it moves!"

The conference room fell into a brief silence, with only the faint humming of equipment running.

The passion ignited by the "Qilin Project" just now seemed to have been doused by a bucket of ice water, cooling down rapidly.

The steel giant on the drawing was indeed fascinating, but Li Yang's structure, Wang Hao's propulsion, Chen Guang's control, Zhao Gong's manufacturing...

The subsystems were like gears that were engaged but also constrained each other, falling into a stalemate.

Interface conflicts, performance constraints, manufacturing bottlenecks...

One difficulty after another stood like invisible barriers between ideal and reality.

Wang Hao scratched his hair irritably and muttered in a low voice:

"Damn, why does it feel more uncomfortable than being choked by the Eagle Country guys..."

"At that time, at least I knew who the enemy was. Now, the enemy has become ourselves?"

Li Yang's brows were locked tight, staring at the structural diagram on the screen without saying a word, clearly his frantically running brain was trying to find the possibility of structural optimization.

Chen Guang was immersed in his terminal world again, his fingertips dancing, trying to find a feasible diversion scheme for that massive amount of data.

The discussion sound of Zhao Kaiyuan and his team also lowered, their faces full of trouble.

Feng Yan took in everyone's reactions. He didn't rush to speak, nor did he try to appease or encourage.

He knew this was the pain that must be experienced before a technical breakthrough, and the sparks that must be generated by the collision of ideas.

He needed to let these contradictions be fully exposed.

Just when the argument seemed to be about to flare up again, and the air was filled with anxiety and a trace of faint gunpowder smell.

Feng Yan walked slowly to the whiteboard in front of the conference room, which was covered with various formulas, parameters, and problem points.

He picked up the eraser, not to erase those specific technical difficulties.

Instead, he slowly and forcefully erased a blank space in the center of the whiteboard, which looked a bit chaotic due to repeated revisions.

Then, he picked up a black marker and drew four clearly separated boxes on that blank space, connected by simple interfaces.

His movements attracted everyone's attention.

Feng Yan turned around, looking at his partners with a calm and profound gaze, and spoke in a steady voice, breaking the deadlock:

"We have all fallen into a fixed mindset." He pointed to the complex human silhouette on the holographic diagram that tried to integrate all functions into one.

"We always think that we have to build a perfect, omnipotent whole."

His pen tip pointed to the four independent boxes on the whiteboard: "Why can't we try a different way of thinking?"

"Li Yang, you are responsible for designing and optimizing the core skeleton and drive module, just like the human skeleton and muscles, pursuing only the ultimate strength, lightweight, and power transmission efficiency."

"Wang Hao, Kaiyuan, you join forces to attack the multi-mode propulsion backpack module."

"Make it a relatively independent 'external' unit, focusing on providing powerful and reliable mobility, and connect it to the main skeleton through a standardized interface."

"Chen Guang, you focus on designing a 'neural network' style distributed control system."

"Delegate control nodes to various key parts of the mech to achieve local decision-making and rapid response, reducing the pressure on the central processor."

"Zhao Gong, Master Li, you join forces to attack the overall casting and precision machining process of large load-bearing components, ensuring the quality of each module itself is reliable."

Feng Yan's gaze swept over every face that was gradually revealing a thoughtful expression, his tone carrying an unquestionable power:

"We dismantle a seemingly invincible giant into several relatively independent functional modules that can be developed, tested, and iterated in parallel."

"Each team focuses on their own module and does their best."

"Then, through the standardized 'interfaces' we carefully designed, we combine them like building blocks!"

He paused, his voice raised a bit: "This is called—modular, platform-based development thinking!"

"We don't try to become fat in one bite. First, we build the strongest 'bones' (skeleton drive module), the most powerful 'wings' (propulsion backpack module);"

"the smartest 'nerves' (control system), the hardest 'armor' (protective material), and then assemble them perfectly together!"

Feng Yan's words, like lighting a lamp in a dark maze, instantly dispelled the fog and depression that had shrouded everyone's hearts.

Wang Hao was the first to react, his eyes suddenly lighting up, and he slapped his thigh hard:

"Damn! Brother Feng! That makes sense!"

"If we do it this way, I don't have to fight with Brother Li's perverted weight reduction indicators every day!"

"I just need to make my propulsion pack awesome! As long as the interface matches, it's done!"

Li Yang's locked brows also relaxed, and the light of realization flashed in his eyes:

"Modularization... can greatly reduce system complexity, facilitating division of labor, collaboration, and subsequent maintenance and upgrades."

"Yes, the constraints of structural design will be much clearer this way."

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses and looked at Feng Yan: "Modular architecture is naturally suitable for distributed control systems."

"I can design independent intelligent nodes for each module and then collaborate through a high-speed data bus."

"The feasibility is very high."

Zhao Gong rubbed his chin and pondered: "Building separately... hmm, the machining difficulty can indeed be reduced a lot."

"Large components can be cast in sections and then connected, and precision is easier to guarantee."

"Sounds more reliable than forcing a whole."

Zhao Kaiyuan and Master Tie Jiang Li also nodded one after another, clearly expressing their approval of this idea.

The stagnant and depressing atmosphere in the conference room was instantly replaced by an excitement of sudden enlightenment.

Feng Yan looked at his partners who had regained their fighting spirit, knowing that the deadlock had been broken.

He was about to speak to arrange the specific division of labor for the next step when the door of the conference room was gently knocked.

Secretary Lin walked in with a document, her face a bit strange. She walked quickly to Feng Yan's side and whispered urgently:

"Team Feng, the information center just sent news that after deep recovery of the communication residues of the previously captured spies, they discovered an encrypted overseas IP segment that has been abnormally active recently."

"It seems to be frequently scanning and probing our external network nodes, and the target... seems to point to peripheral information related to the 'Qilin Project' we just launched."

Feng Yan's heart tightened slightly.

The shadow of the "Glass Cage" had not yet completely dissipated, and the peepers in the dark, like sharks smelling blood, couldn't wait to peek at this newborn secret.

He nodded calmly to Secretary Lin, indicating he knew.

Then, he turned to the team members who had refocused their attention on him, his face returning to a steady smile, as if that episode had never happened.

"Alright, since the idea is clear," Feng Yan clapped his hands hard, pulling everyone's attention back.

"Then don't just stand there!"

"Each module leader, immediately reorganize the requirements based on the modular idea and formulate a detailed R&D node and schedule!"

"Tomorrow morning, I want to see the preliminary plan!"

"Qilin Project, officially launched!"

"We must let this steel giant that belongs to us stand up as soon as possible!"

Everyone responded in unison, and the conference room was once again filled with a busy and vibrant atmosphere.

The challenges were still huge, and the road ahead was still full of thorns, but a clear path had appeared before their eyes.

And under the light and hope, the invisible contest was still going on silently.

Wang Hao packed his things while leaning over to Li Yang, winking and whispering:

"Brother Li, did you hear? There are still little ghosts thinking about it in the dark!"

"We have to keep a close eye on our 'big baby'. When we show it off, we'll scare them to death!"

Li Yang didn't answer, just gripped the tablet in his hand silently, a cold edge flashing in his eyes. ===== CHAPTER 102 =====