On April 12, the 17th "Challenge Cup" National Competition on Extracurricular Academic and Technology Works of College Students was concluded. With the strong support of BJUT, two projects of FACTE, namely Eye of the Tunnel: Intelligent Detection System for Subway Tunnels and Ecological Pulse: A Study on Urban Ecological Spatial Checkup Based on Multi-source Sensing Data, were shortlisted and stood out from 1,260 projects nationwide, winning BJUT two national first prizes!

Initiated by China's well-known universities and media outlets and co-sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the All-China Students' Federation and local governments, the “Challenge Cup” Competition of Science and Technology for College Students is a series of student-oriented and exemplary contests targeting college students, and is known as the "Olympics" of science and technology for Chinese college students. It is by far the most popular national competition among domestic college students. Since the first competition was held in 1989, the "Challenge Cup" has always been committed to the purpose of "advocating science, pursuing knowledge, studying hard, making innovations and rising to challenges", and has played a positive role in promoting the growth of young innovative talent, deepening quality-oriented education in universities, and advancing economic and social development. The "Challenge Cup" is also a highly valued competition as one of the two leading competitions in FACTE's "2+3+N" Technology Competition System. A total of 1,260 projects were shortlisted for the national contest of the 17th "Challenge Cup" competition, which consisted of 4 categories and 7 groups, with 109 entries winning the first prize, 320 the second prize and 755 the third prize.

The project "Eye of the Tunnel: Intelligent Detection System for Subway Tunnels", which was completed under the supervision of academician Du Xiuli,Prof.Bao Yan andProf.Tao Lianjin, is an integration of 3D laser scanner, inertial navigation system, camera, odometer, industrial computer, and self-driving robot. The project addresses the difficulties of multi-sensor space-time synchronization and space-time benchmarking, and builds the intelligent detection equipment for subway tunnels. An intelligent detection software system with independent intellectual property rights featuring four categories of point cloud interpretation algorithms: spatial structure analysis, image recognition, tunnel segment disease identification, and auxiliary facilities detection has been developed. It also enables rapid, efficient, and intelligent detection of subway tunnels.

The project of "Ecological Pulse: A Study on Urban Ecological Spatial Checkup Based on Multi-source Sensing Data", which was completed under the supervision ofDr.Xue Fei,Dr.Li Ziwei andProf.Zhao Zhifeng, examines the ecological space within 155 square kilometers of the Beijing sub-center from a bottom-up micro humanistic perspective. By applying various techniques such as machine learning, spatial overlay analysis, semantic analysis, hierarchical analysis and spatial modeling, a set of urban ecological space examination methods and evaluation systems covering 6 categories and 43 indicators was established, a compilation of urban ecological space information was prepared, and a database of evidence-based planning and design suggestions was established based on satellite remote sensing, spatial-temporal data, questionnaire and interviews, site models and other data sources.

The two projects went through more than 20 times of internal defense and evaluation, with repeated revisions and improvement being made. Meanwhile, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the final was held online, which posed new challenges to the two teams. BJUT and FACTE provided strong support to the teams from site arrangement to network communications, material preparation, and model building. The teams demonstrated great teamwork and flexibility, and showed the judges the"BJUT solution"and"FACTE wisdom".

FACTE has always valued the important role of equipping students with scientific and technological innovation skills in talent development. Its students have repeatedly won prizes and gold awards in national leading science and technology competitions, including the "Challenge Cup" competition and the "Internet+" competition, making BJUT a top-ranking university among its Beijing counterparts. Meanwhile, the FACTE teams havealso made several award-winning breakthroughsamong Beijing universities. Moving forward, FACTE will continue to focus on scientific and technological innovation,establish an organized system for students to participate in science and technology competitions, enhance students' professional skillsandability of putting ideas into practice, improve innovationandprovide effective and efficient services for teachers and students.