China begins trials of its own satellite navigation system
By Yang Jian and Wang Qingchu |
December 28, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA began trial operations of its home-produced navigation system yesterday with more than 100,000 people, including fishermen, bus drivers, emergency workers and military personnel using the Beidou Navigation Satellite System.
Currently, China and its military mostly rely on the United States' dominant Global Positioning System network.
The Beidou system currently consists of 10 satellites and has an accuracy of about 25 meters, said Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation System Management Office.
China is the third country after the United States and Russia to have an independent satellite navigation system in operation.
"Without a controllable satellite navigation system, a country's economy and social development will lack a reliable safeguard," Ran said.
The accuracy of Beidou, which means the Big Dipper in Chinese, will be improved to around 10 meters, almost the same as GPS, by the end of next year after six more satellites are put into orbit. By then, the service will cover most of the Asia Pacific region, Ran said.
The system will eventually have more than 30 satellites, he said. The GPS system has 24 working satellites and three backups.
Beidou is expected to provide a global service to the public by 2020 and it will be used in areas such as engineering monitoring, fishing, meteorology, traffic management and rescue missions, in addition to its navigation service.
"I would like to make an official promise that the global services from Beidou will be free," Ran said at a press conference in Beijing.
Compared with the satellite navigation systems developed by the US (GPS), Russia (Glonass) and Europe's Galileo system, which is being developed, Beidou is the only one that also offers telecommunication services.
Apart from giving users location and time information, Beidou can also send users' information to other people and communicate with users via text messages, which will be helpful especially during rescue work, said Ran.
"China has always been working hard to make the Beidou system compatible with the other three major satellite navigation systems in the world to provide a more reliable navigation service with better quality to world users," Ran said.
He said that as the world's earliest navigation system, GPS is the most advanced and mature.
The Glonass system from Russia has the strongest ability to resist interference, while the Galileo system will eventually have the greatest accuracy.
China began to build a satellite navigation system to break its dependence on the US system in 2000 when it sent two satellites into orbit as an experiment. It launched the first Beidou satellite in April 2007 and the 10th early this month.
"We have been promoting the use of the Beidou navigation system in various economic and social sectors since 2000," Ran said.
The system has been widely used in transportation, marine fisheries, hydrological monitoring, weather forecasting and disaster mitigation.
Over 1,000 Beidou terminals were used in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, providing information from the earthquake area.
It was used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo to pinpoint traffic congestion and supervise venues.
Recent examples include the Ministry of Transport developing a terminal to use the Beidou navigation in its monitoring of shuttle buses, tourist chartered buses and vehicles carrying dangerous goods, Ran said.
Guangdong Province has also used Beidou to monitor the use of government vehicles to prevent private use.
The US is currently the dominant provider of navigation services for vehicles in China, with its GPS system used in 95 percent of the country's navigation market.
Currently, China and its military mostly rely on the United States' dominant Global Positioning System network.
The Beidou system currently consists of 10 satellites and has an accuracy of about 25 meters, said Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation System Management Office.
China is the third country after the United States and Russia to have an independent satellite navigation system in operation.
"Without a controllable satellite navigation system, a country's economy and social development will lack a reliable safeguard," Ran said.
The accuracy of Beidou, which means the Big Dipper in Chinese, will be improved to around 10 meters, almost the same as GPS, by the end of next year after six more satellites are put into orbit. By then, the service will cover most of the Asia Pacific region, Ran said.
The system will eventually have more than 30 satellites, he said. The GPS system has 24 working satellites and three backups.
Beidou is expected to provide a global service to the public by 2020 and it will be used in areas such as engineering monitoring, fishing, meteorology, traffic management and rescue missions, in addition to its navigation service.
"I would like to make an official promise that the global services from Beidou will be free," Ran said at a press conference in Beijing.
Compared with the satellite navigation systems developed by the US (GPS), Russia (Glonass) and Europe's Galileo system, which is being developed, Beidou is the only one that also offers telecommunication services.
Apart from giving users location and time information, Beidou can also send users' information to other people and communicate with users via text messages, which will be helpful especially during rescue work, said Ran.
"China has always been working hard to make the Beidou system compatible with the other three major satellite navigation systems in the world to provide a more reliable navigation service with better quality to world users," Ran said.
He said that as the world's earliest navigation system, GPS is the most advanced and mature.
The Glonass system from Russia has the strongest ability to resist interference, while the Galileo system will eventually have the greatest accuracy.
China began to build a satellite navigation system to break its dependence on the US system in 2000 when it sent two satellites into orbit as an experiment. It launched the first Beidou satellite in April 2007 and the 10th early this month.
"We have been promoting the use of the Beidou navigation system in various economic and social sectors since 2000," Ran said.
The system has been widely used in transportation, marine fisheries, hydrological monitoring, weather forecasting and disaster mitigation.
Over 1,000 Beidou terminals were used in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, providing information from the earthquake area.
It was used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo to pinpoint traffic congestion and supervise venues.
Recent examples include the Ministry of Transport developing a terminal to use the Beidou navigation in its monitoring of shuttle buses, tourist chartered buses and vehicles carrying dangerous goods, Ran said.
Guangdong Province has also used Beidou to monitor the use of government vehicles to prevent private use.
The US is currently the dominant provider of navigation services for vehicles in China, with its GPS system used in 95 percent of the country's navigation market.
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