The 24th Winter Olympic Games, the highest event of winter sports, are in full swing in Beijing, and from February 4~20, 2022, Beijing, the world's only "double Olympics" city, has become the focus of the world's attention. Hundreds of millions of spectators have been touched by the scenes of athletes from all over the world winning gold and silver medals on the field, and the high-tech facilities inside and outside the competition venues, the intelligent equipment to ensure the fairness and justice of the competition, the control system to ensure the safety of the venue without interference, the treatment equipment to assist the athletes' physical recovery, and the robotic arm that can automatically stir-fry and cook have also attracted great attention. It can be said that the Beijing Winter Olympics is not only a feast of sports, but also a grand event to show China's scientific and technological progress.

From venues, epidemic prevention, meteorology, security, to training, living, and eating, a large number of intelligent technological elements can be seen everywhere, and the important role "sensors" throughout these technological elements are ubiquitous. Below, let the editor of Smart Sensor sort out these "invisible heroes" on the Olympic field for you.

Wireless sensors make a beautiful "ice ribbon"

The National Speed Skating Stadium, also known as the "Ice Ribbon", is the only newly built ice competition venue for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and is also one of the landmark buildings and main venues of the Winter Olympics. The circular "Ice Ribbon" is surrounded by 22 beautiful "ribbon" curved glass curtain walls, which are elegant from a distance and magnificent from a close distance. Since the opening of the Winter Olympics, the Winter Olympics mascot "Bingdundun" panda head is decorated with a colorful halo, which is inspired by the "ice ribbon".

As the iconic venue of the main competition area of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the roof structure of the "Ice Ribbon" is a saddle-shaped cable net woven from 79 steel cables, and its structure, construction technology and stress state are very complex. In order to successfully build and maintain the "Ice Ribbon", the team of Professor Luo Yaozhi of Zhejiang University independently developed wireless sensors to monitor six categories of parameters such as stress, displacement, acceleration, temperature, wind pressure, and cable force of the venue to judge the safety of the venue. According to reports, more than 1,000 sensors were arranged during the entire construction process of the "Ice Ribbon", which shows the importance of sensors to this project.

Indoor environmental monitoring sensors make the "Water Cube" magically transformed into the "Ice Cube"

Compared to the "Ice Ribbon", the "Ice Cube" converted from the "Water Cube" is even more powerful. According to the renovation plan, the "Ice Cube" will add ice functions on the basis of maintaining the water function of the "Water Cube", and lay curling venues with 4 standard tracks in the middle of the competition hall by building a convertible structure and installing a detachable ice-making system, so as to undertake the curling and wheelchair curling events of the Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics.

This is the world's first use of intelligent technology to establish a swimming pool to convert the ice rink, the technical difficulty is extremely great, in order to meet the standards of curling competition ice surface, including Tsinghua University, a number of universities will be the domestic top scientific research forces gathered, in the Ministry of Science and Technology deployment, is committed to the ice internal performance and external influence of the research to seek breakthroughs, so that the control system can be converted with the change of functional requirements.

In order to ensure that the indoor environmental conditions of the "Ice Cube" meet the requirements of curling competitions, the venue has set up a building equipment management system led by more than 4,000 sensors, which can monitor and control changes in temperature, humidity, PM2.5 concentration, etc. in the venue. Under the precise control of this system, the ice surface temperature of the curling track has reached the requirement of minus 8.5 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the ice surface at a height of 1.5 meters has always been maintained at 10 degrees Celsius, and the temperature of the spectator area of the stands has been kept constant at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius.

The horizontal sensor boosts the "Snow Ruyi" variable angle inclined elevator

"Xue Ruyi" is China's first Winter Olympic ski jumping venue that meets international standards, with a drop of more than 160 meters between the top and the ground. During the Winter Olympics, it is a problem that cannot be ignored to help athletes and others achieve fast passage between the top of the "snow Ruyi" and the ground. The variable angle inclined elevator next to "Snow Ruyi" was born in response.

This inclined elevator is specially designed and produced for the special shape and competition purpose of "Snow Ruyi", with a total length of 259 meters and a speed of up to 2.5 meters per second, which is 5 times the speed of the common variable slope inclined elevator, making it the fastest variable slope inclined elevator in the world. The elevator track is built according to the trend of the mountain, and there is an arc-shaped track in the middle, with a slope of 22.56° at the slowest point and 39.56° at the steepest point. To operate smoothly and quickly at variable slope angles with a difference of nearly 20°, a series of complex equipment improvements and technical adjustments are required. For this purpose, the technicians installed servo drives, level sensors and anti-overturning devices on the elevators. At the same time, a long-term system debugging has been carried out under different working conditions, so that the inclined elevator can maintain a uniform speed and horizontal operation in steep slopes and gentle slopes, and can ensure normal operation in the environment below the minimum temperature of -30 °C in Zhangjiakou in winter.

Environmental Monitoring Sensors Improve Smart Systems for Healthy Buildings

The Healthy Building Intelligent Improvement System is installed in the rest area of the Winter Olympics venues and the Winter Olympic Village, which is equipped with environmental perception sensors to intelligently optimize indoor air, control pollutant concentration, optimize thermal comfort and building energy saving, so as to provide athletes with a healthy and environmentally friendly living environment. In addition to air detection, home appliance control and other functions, it can also be linked with outdoor micro weather stations to automatically adjust indoor air quality, so as to achieve the ultimate in low-carbon and environmental protection.

Interactive sensor system turns the tourist reception center into a "magic cabin"

In the Zhangjiakou competition area, there is a magical hut specially designed to welcome the tourist crowd of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The magic of the hut is that it changes shape with the changing climate. The cabin has built-in temperature sensors, humidity sensors, wind sensors and other sensors, through the software central control system, according to the collected information setting requirements for calculation, issued commands, and the mechanical device on the three panels will execute the command to push the panel to the appropriate position. When the three boards of the hut are fully opened, it becomes a stage for performances, and the audience sits freely on the sloping steps around the perimeter to watch the performance.

The hut is also able to accurately detect changes in temperature, which in turn activates a mechanism that allows the hut's three panels to open and close automatically. For example, when the temperature outside the hut is 16~29 °C, the panel of the hut will be opened according to the wind direction, so that the indoor ventilation and outdoor scenery can be viewed; when the outdoor temperature is lower than 16 degrees Celsius, the temperature and humidity sensor will also quickly perceive, and the sensor data will also be transmitted to the other two systems, and finally let the three panels automatically close, and start the coiled floor heating system at the first time for heating; when the outdoor temperature is higher than 29 degrees, the three panels will also be automatically closed, The air conditioning system is activated for cooling, and when it is windy or rainy, the three panels are also turned off to prevent wind and rain.

The temperature sensor escorts the epidemic prevention foolproof

In the context of the epidemic, in order to protect the health of athletes, staff and other personnel related to the Winter Olympics, while implementing the "large closed-loop" management of various venues, facilities and support institutions of the Beijing Winter Olympics, many temperature sensors were deployed to measure the temperature and help escort the epidemic prevention. Among them, there are individual temperature measurements, such as band-aid armpit temperature sensors, intelligent temperature stickers equipped with temperature sensors, thermal imaging temperature measurement all-in-one machines for collective temperature measurement, and human identification terminal equipment. The temperature sensor monitors the body temperature of the personnel in each venue of the Winter Olympics in real time, invisibly providing a layer of protective umbrella.

One of them, a domestic wearable thermometer known as a "armpit band-aid", provides strong support for the prevention and control of the epidemic in this Winter Olympics. The test personnel only need to stick the smart thermometer on the skin of the armpit and bind the device on the mobile app, and the temperature data changes of the tested person will be clearly displayed on the page, and automatically measured and reported to the background, so that the staff on the prevention and control duty can continuously monitor the body temperature and risk early warning of the observed population through the computer.

Vision sensors become the finishing touch of robots

In order to avoid the gathering of people and too much contact in the Olympic venues, intelligent robots such as reception robots, cleaning robots, and coffee robots have been added to the venues. In addition to free movement, autonomous obstacle avoidance, and intelligent route planning, they also have their own anthropomorphic "stunts". Of course, these "stunts" are indispensable to the credit of sensors. For example, the "little master" of epidemic prevention in the venue - atomization and disinfection robot. It is equipped with visual sensors to identify road conditions in complex environments, avoid obstacles, and spray disinfectant ultrasonic atomization to all corners of the venue to complete the mission of epidemic prevention.

The microcore pile intelligent sensor has become a "little mushroom" to guard the safety of the mountain

On the steep mountain around the Yanqing competition area of the Winter Olympics, there are many crystal clear "small mushrooms" - in the "mushroom head" of the plastic shell, there is a complex induction structure, and a column below is deeply embedded in the rock mass. This is a micro-core pile intelligent sensor, with an artificial intelligence perception platform, to monitor the safety of the surrounding mountains 24 hours a day.

Due to the vertical and horizontal ravines of Xiaohaituo Mountain, the mountain situation is complex, and many construction sites are close to the mountain, and the construction of large machinery will disturb the geological structure, which may lead to rockfalls, landslides, etc. In order to carry out real-time monitoring and early warning of the safety of the mountain slope, these micro-core piles with a total weight of less than 1 kg are placed around each construction point to perceive the changes in key safety indicators such as vibration, inclination, inclination and acceleration of the site structure.

Motion sensors help athletes improve their movements and performance

The motion capture wearable sensor can collect the sports data of athletes during training and competition, and fully consider the individualized physiological characteristics, equipment characteristics and environmental characteristics of athletes, including body shape, skeletal muscle, physiology and biochemistry, etc., for the individual competition events of short track speed skating and speed skating, fully consider the personalized physiological characteristics, equipment characteristics and environmental characteristics of athletes, including body shape, skeletal muscle, physiological and biochemical, etc., establish an analysis model of athletes' energy output and energy saving and drag reduction in the process of skating, effectively evaluate the impact of various skating technologies, and determine the best combination of parameters, including skating route, skating rhythm and skating time. Kick action, kick speed, kick direction, human posture, turn control and balance, etc., in-depth analysis and mining of existing competition and test data, to provide a practical basis for the adjustment of training programs.

Wearable motion sensors are evident in helping athletes improve their movements and performance. At this Winter Olympics, there is also a high-level athlete performance analysis system embedded with dozens of miniature sensors, which has been adopted by the Chinese freestyle skiing aerials national team. The system mainly collects and records the acceleration and angular velocity of each part of the wearer's limbs through motion capture tights, leggings, insoles, and gloves embedded with dozens of microscopic sensors. Compared with traditional optical sensors, smart clothing using inertial sensors has more advantages such as more accurate capture, all-weather, and strong anti-interference ability. And for the purpose of not affecting the athlete's wear, the weight of the sensor hidden in the clothing is only 0.9 grams, and the volume is only 1/3 of the 1 yuan coin.

In addition, the intelligent training system for winter sports with sensors that is "accurate to the muscles" has changed the history of referees mainly relying on subjective judgment of the difficulty coefficient in scoring, and has also been applied to some events in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The 100-million-pixel array sensor light field camera focuses on the whole area of the site

A 100-million-level pixel array sensor light field camera in Wukesong Sports Center is an important part of the accurate epidemic prevention monitoring in the event area. No movement in the stadium can escape the "magic eye" of this 19-camera sensor light field camera. The original array camera design breaks through the resolution limit of a single optical lens and sensor, so that it can fully cover the monitoring of the competition area and spectator area of the event venue, and at the same time can ensure the clear presentation and recording of every detail, and excellently complete the real-time recording of events in the venue, non-inductive face recognition and tracking tasks.

How about it? Smart Sensor Xiaobian excavates and sorts out the sensors on the Beijing Winter Olympics for you, isn't it amazing?

In fact, with the improvement of China's national strength and the progress of scientific and technological strength, not only in the Winter Olympics, but also in our daily life, sensors also affect all aspects of us all the time. Of course, some sensor applications may not yet have the external conditions to become widespread in society, but in the long run, they will surely shine in the future.

The Beijing Winter Olympics, which pursues the concept of "Science and Technology Olympics", is more like a door that opens the door to today and the future for us, and the beautiful life created by those amazing "black technologies" will definitely appear around each of us in the near future.

Finally, the editor of Smart Sensor wishes the Chinese Winter Olympics athletes good results, create more brilliance, and move towards the future together!