BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The following is a summary of recent science and technology news briefs.
FIRST BLACK HOLE IMAGE
Chinese astronomers have made contributions to a global effort to capture the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy M87.
The image of the black hole, based on observations through a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, was supported by the Center for Astronomical MegaScience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, co-established by National Astronomical Observatories, Purple Mountain Observatory and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.
AUTOPILOT SYSTEM
Chinese researchers have developed an autopilot simulation system to improve driving safety.
The research team from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics simulated real roads and traffic conditions based on video and photos in order to narrow the gap between the autopilot system and real environment.
AIRSHIP TEST
China's 3,500-cubic-meter manned airship for civilian service has passed its feasibility assessment and is expected to conduct its maiden flight in 2020.
The airship was developed by the China Special Vehicle Research Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. It has a payload of 840 kg and can carry 10 passengers. Its flight duration can reach 24 hours, with a maximum range of 1,000 km and a flight altitude of 3,050 meters.
VIDEO FINGERPRINTS
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has created a project for "video fingerprints," a technology that gives each original video a unique online identity, to fight piracy on its e-commerce platforms.
Alibaba's security lab created "fingerprints" for all original videos on Taobao and Tmall based on the characteristics such as coding and compression of each frame. The fingerprints can be used to identify the video even if it is trimmed or its images are modified. Enditem
