Star Exploration Program: "Cloud + AI" Technology Helps China Sky Eye FAST Pulsar Recognition Speed Up 120 Times

One, two, three...

A full 22!

Yes, count the stars.

Focus on:

Today, we announced at the 2022 World Artificial Intelligence Conference that in less than a year, Tencent Youtu Lab has used "cloud + AI" to help China Tianyan FAST discover 22 new pulsars .

Among them, there are 7 millisecond pulsars with high-speed rotation and 6 old pulsars with intermittent radiation.

22 pulsars, what concept?

The search for pulsars starts with AI this time

There are many brightest stars in the night sky, this is the star↓

This is the planet (yes, the Earth we are most familiar with)↓

However, you can't see pulsars.

This is because, as a star whose life cycle has reached the end, pulsars have weak signals and are easily interfered by artificial electromagnetics.

But pulsars are also ultra-dense stars, which can help us explore the distribution and density of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way, as well as the distribution and strength of the galaxy's magnetic field.

That is to say, the more pulsars are discovered, the more they can help us understand the universe and find a direction in future interstellar voyages.

Last year, we cooperated with the National Astronomical Observatory of China to launch the "Star Exploration Program". Based on the computer vision technology of Tencent Youtu Lab and the computing and storage capabilities of Tencent Cloud, we used "cloud + AI" to help China Tianyan FAST process the huge amount of data it receives every day. data and find pulsar clues through visual AI analysis.

The product and technology brother who is immersed in the laboratory, this time he plunges into the vast sea of stars.

We hope, using AI technology capabilities --

● Improve screening efficiency, and can quickly screen out relevant signals from massive patterns;

● At the same time, it provides the storage and computing capabilities of Tencent Cloud to improve the storage upper limit and computing efficiency of data samples;

The goal is to make scientists and Sky Eyes pay less.

120 times faster recognition

Many people have heard of this cauldron.

In fact, as the most sensitive radio telescope in the world, the real name of this cauldron is "China Sky Eye".

In order to find pulsars, this pot, the daily workload is not easy-

Due to complex signal interference, pulsars need to be screened out of many signals, and the sample range is often 30 million to 100 million;

In the past, on the basis of receiving 30 million image signals per week, it was difficult for even astronomers to find pulsars in the vast sea of pictures at a glance.

Fortunately, AI is here to help.

In order to assist Sky Eye, after AI joins——

● We have improved the processing speed of AI. On the basis of massive samples, based on existing pulsar samples, we can quickly screen out suspected samples;

● At the same time, we have improved the AI's learning and algorithm capabilities, and continuously optimized on the basis of the existing pulsar sample data, which can more accurately determine pulsar and non-pulsar signals.

In less than a year, Cloud+AI has successfully helped Tianyan FAST pulsar recognition speed increase by 120 times, and the false alarm rate has dropped by 98%.

Start a new star exploration program

Another good news-

The Joint National Astronomical Observatory's project has already won the top award at this year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the SAIL Star Award.

The starry sky is the most primitive yearning of human beings.

Today, we also announced that, in conjunction with the National Astronomical Observatory, the Star Exploration Program will launch the deepest and most complete detection of a pulsar-like compact object in the large extragalactic galaxy M31 (Andromeda). This is also the deepest and complete exploration of the M31 galaxy radio signal in the astronomical community.

Since the M31 galaxy is far away and difficult to observe, this time, we will use AI to perform complete radio signal processing and detection.

If the breakthrough of 0 can be achieved by then, we will also have a better understanding of this untouched land.

(put a small bench here first)

In the future, whether in the vast starry sky or in other places, we hope that technology can help more scenarios and new explorations.