Researchers demonstrate the potential of an Nvidia chip for military research. The advantage of the chip is that it is not affected by export restrictions and furthermore does not cost several thousand euros.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, a Chinese research team has demonstrated how a low-cost “Nvidia Jetson TX2i System-on-Chip” for industrial applications can significantly enhance the capabilities of hypersonic weapons.
This study was conducted jointly by the Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute and Dalian University of Technology and published in the Chinese journal Propulsion Technology.
The advantage: The Nvidia Jetson TX2i is not subject to export restrictions and also costs significantly less than Nvidia’s AI chips. Here, the price is also over 2,000 euros due to export restrictions.
Nvidia chip could drastically reduce research and development costs
What kind of chip is this? The Nvidia Jetson TX2i is a single-board chip that has primarily been used in industrial facilities. The chip is particularly energy-efficient and smaller than a credit card.
The Chinese team has now adapted this chip for use in hypersonic aircraft.
Hypersonic aircraft are vehicles in aerospace that can reach speeds above five times the speed of sound (more than Mach 5). However, there are currently only concepts available. Research is also being conducted on hypersonic weapons.
Why is the chip so good? Economically, the use of the Nvidia chip primarily means a significant reduction in research and development costs for hypersonic technologies. The TX2 chip costs only a fraction of the current AI chips from Nvidia, whose import to China is currently banned.
This computing power can again be utilized for important areas: for example, for real-time optimization of various systems within the aircraft or for fuel supply and fault diagnosis of the installed engines (scramjet engines).
The military advantage mainly lies in the computing power: the time required for critical calculations is reduced from several “long” seconds to just 25 milliseconds.
Are there alternatives? Yes, the Chinese researchers stated in their report that chips manufactured in China could meet the requirements of the country’s military applications just as well. Therefore, the single-board systems from Nvidia were not necessarily needed.
A research team from China has introduced a new passive cooling system for processors. This is said to significantly improve performance while also being cheaper in the long run. You can read how well this works directly on our site MeinMMO:
