booktalesy Chapter 86 Deployment
Chapter 86 Deployment
The first phase of citywide rollout has officially begun.
Liu Wei broke down the deployment plan for the six districts into detailed Gantt charts, and held a stand-up meeting every morning at nine o'clock without fail to report on the previous day's progress and the problems encountered that day. Although Zuo Cheng was not present all the time, he read every daily report.
The first district was Yuhang District. Although it had a large area, its population density was low, making deployment the least difficult. Zhang Lei and his hardware team completed the installation and debugging of 800 sensors and 25 edge gateways in two days. Ma Hao's algorithm team followed up with debugging, and the system was online and running within a day.
The second district is Gongshu District, an old town with narrow streets and dense buildings. Installing sensors there is much more difficult than in Yuhang District; some streetlights are too old and don't have enough load-bearing capacity, requiring additional reinforcement. Zhang Lei called Liu Wei: "Brother Wei, Gongshu District needs 30 sets of reinforcement parts. Can you deliver them the day after tomorrow?"
"The day after tomorrow? It'll arrive this afternoon." Liu Wei's voice was crisp. "I've already prepared 50 sets for each district, just in case you need them."
Zhang Lei paused for a moment, then laughed: "When did you prepare this?"
"Brother Cheng said there's bound to be unexpected situations in the old town area. I scouted the area beforehand and listed all the potential problems. I've prepared reinforcements, waterproof sealant, extension cables—everything."
Liu Wei's transformation surprised Zuo Cheng. He had always thought Liu Wei was the least noticeable person in the team, not as smart as Chen Hao, not as pragmatic as Zhang Lei, and not as focused as Fang Ze. But this time, Liu Wei handled the logistical support for the city-wide rollout flawlessly. Equipment was stocked in advance, routes were planned ahead of time, and contingency plans were developed in advance—every detail was considered.
Zuo Cheng silently noted this down in his mind: Liu Wei wasn't incapable; he just hadn't been given a big enough stage before. A person can only shine when they are in the right position.
The first phase took twenty-five days, completing the deployment in two districts five days ahead of schedule. The system is running stably, data transmission is normal, and Director Zhao's feedback has been very positive.
But the second phase didn't go so smoothly.
Shangcheng and Xiacheng districts are the commercial centers of Hangzhou, with dense crowds, so installation work could only be scheduled at night. Furthermore, the underground pipe networks in these two districts are complex, resulting in uneven 4G signal coverage in some areas and problems with the backhaul links of the edge gateways.
"At the seventh gateway in Shangcheng District, the 4G signal is intermittent, and the data transmission success rate is only 85%," Ma Hao reported at the station meeting. "This is below the 95% acceptable threshold."
"What's the reason?" Zuo Cheng asked.
"The signal jamming in the underground shopping mall is too severe," Ma Hao said. "The seventh gateway is installed near the underground exit of Wulin Square, above which is the shopping mall, and the 4G signal is attenuated by the building structure."
"How about we switch seats?"
"We've tried all the surrounding light poles, and the results are about the same. The only solution is to move the gateway above ground, but there aren't any suitable installation points on the ground."
Zuo Cheng thought for a moment: "How about installing a signal repeater? We can establish a backhaul link between the ground and underground."
"We can give it a try," Zhang Lei said, "but the repeater needs to be purchased separately, and it requires approval from the city before it can be installed."
"I'll handle the approval process," Zuo Cheng said. "Zhang Lei, you choose the installation location first. Liu Wei, follow up on the purchase of the repeaters."
"Understood," they both replied simultaneously.
The second phase progressed amidst setbacks. The signal problem in Shangcheng District was solved using repeaters, and the nighttime construction issue in Xiacheng District was resolved by adjusting work schedules. The deployment in Jianggan District went relatively smoothly, completed in just one week.
The second phase took thirty days, just in time for the planned milestones.
The third phase is the last district, Binjiang District. Binjiang District is Hangzhou's high-tech zone, with new buildings and good infrastructure, so its development should be the smoothest of all the districts. Zuo Cheng handed over Binjiang District to Chen Hao for full responsibility and returned to the development work of the Sky Dome project.
The development of the third phase of Sky Dome is also progressing simultaneously. Chen Hao is in charge of the smart city system architecture, while Tang Xu is in charge of the beam management module of the Sky Dome project. The two lines are running in parallel, and although manpower is tight, it is barely enough.
Zuo Cheng switched back and forth between the two projects, dealing with technical issues related to Tianqiong during the day and reading the daily reports on smart cities at night. His day started at seven in the morning and ended at one in the morning, with only five hours of rest in between. Chen Hao had advised him against it, and Yu Ying had felt sorry for him, but Zuo Cheng knew that this pace could not be slowed down.
Yu Ying felt sorry for him: "Brother, if you keep pushing yourself like this, you'll damage your health."
"I know," Zuo Cheng said, "but this is the most critical period. Neither the Sky Dome nor the Smart City can afford to fail. Once the deployment in Binjiang District is complete, I'll be able to relax."
"You always say that." Yu Ying sighed.
The third phase was completed three days ahead of schedule. Deployment was fully completed in Binjiang District, with all 5000 sensors and 150 edge gateways across six districts online and operating without a single failure. The entire system was integrated and tested within five days, with all indicators meeting design requirements and some even exceeding expectations.
The program was rolled out citywide and completed.
When the news reached Blue Bay Communications, Zhou Henian sent a message to Zuo Cheng: "Xiao Zuo, with both the Sky Dome and Smart City projects progressing simultaneously, can you handle it?"
Zuo Cheng replied, "We can hold on."
Zhou Henian replied with a single word: "Okay."
When the news reached Huaxin, Lin Jianhua sat in his office, looking at the progress report of the Hangzhou Smart City project, his face ashen. Their 3200 million yuan bid had been crushed by 402's 2800 million yuan, and 402 had also won the city-wide rollout contract. Huaxin was completely out of the running in the Hangzhou Smart City project.
But Lin Jianhua wasn't one to give up easily. He picked up the phone and dialed the head of Huaxin's IoT business unit: "Adjust our strategy. Losing Hangzhou isn't a big deal; there are dozens of other cities across the country building smart cities. Refine our solution; we can't afford to lose to 402 in the next city."
Zuo Cheng didn't know what Lin Jianhua was thinking, but he could sense that Huaxin wouldn't give up easily. The national market was the real battlefield; Hangzhou was just the first small-scale skirmish.
He stood by the window, gazing at the city in the distance. Five thousand sensors were working quietly, collecting data on the city's traffic, air quality, noise levels, and environment. This data flowed into 402's cloud platform, where it was processed and distributed by the edge scheduling system, transforming into the digital pulse of the city's operation.
This is the first step in 402's IoT empire, taking it from scratch. The next step is to replicate this successful model in every city across the country.