2018年CRI Expert: Beidou system gaining popularity

Chinese netizens recently expressed their hope to use China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, after some reports show that its accuracy can be improved to less than one meter.

Our reporter Liu Min talked to Dr. Yang Yuguang, a Professor from the China Aerospace 1 Science & Industry Corporation and the secretary of the IAF Space Transportation Committee, about the development of the Beidou navigation satellite system.

Liu Min: Dr. Yang, according to the recent media reports in China, many Chinese netizens have expressed their willingness to use the Beidou navigation system instead of the GPS system in their daily life. But some experts say that it all depends on whether the mobile phones are installed with the right chips. The news report shows that by using the Beidou navigation system, a person's position can be located as accurate as within one meter, is that true? And how can the Beidou system make that happen?

Dr. Yang Yuguang: Of course, with the development of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, it's becoming more and more popular. And more people are willing to use it. That's true. That's because with the development, the accuracy of the Beidou system is more and more precise than before. And of course this depends on the receiver which contains a chip, which can support the Beidou system. Because you know as for a receiver, it can receive the signals of the Beidou system based on the hardware, so the chip which can support the Beidou system is very important, and of course, with the development of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, more and more chips, besides their receivers being capable of receiving the signals of GPS or GLONASS, they can also have the capability 2 to receive the signals of the Beidou system. Whether the accuracy can reach one meter or higher, that depends. Because according to the official release, Beidou system can provide accuracy of ten meters for all free. And for more accurate services, they can also provide…and even under certain circumstances, we have a ground enhance system. We can also provide the accuracy better than one meter. I also should emphasize that the navigation satellite system has application and it has already formed a very huge industry, which values even billions or trillions of dollars.

Liu Min: Would you elaborate a little bit about the Beidou series, and what kind of stage can China achieve after finishing the launching mission this year?

Dr. Yang Yuguang: Well, you see this is really a fast construction speed. Within only one year, we can launch 18 satellites or more. You know what we've already constructed is a Beidou-2 regional navigation satellite system. That means that, in the Asia Pacific region, and in China, and in any place, you can receive more than 4 satellites at the same moment. If we can launch 18 satellites for the Beidou-3 Navigation Satellite System, the quantities you can see at the same time will increase. So not only in the Asia Pacific region, but in the wider area, you can receive the signals with more than 4 satellites. So it is possible when the 18 satellites are all launched, we can use the Beidou Navigation Satellite System in the even farer area, for instance, in the One Belt and One Road region. So in the future, if the whole system has been constructed, you can also use that (the system) in the United States or Brazil. In several years later, we will complete the constellation 3 of this Beidou Navigation Satellite System. And of course besides the infrastructure 4 in the sky, we also have the ground station constructions. You know for the navigation satellite, we need the satellite to broadcast its accurate position and also the time. But the position of the satellite needs to be measured from the ground. The ground station is also very important.

Liu Min: So can you tell us something about the importance or the meaning to introduce our own system, the Beidou navigation system?

Dr. Yang Yuguang: A navigation satellite system is a very important tool for countries, especially for big countries like China. It is not only very useful, but also a very important measure to ensure the safety of the country and also for the national economy. So it is very very necessary to build this Beidou Navigation Satellite System for China. And also, you can see that in the space capable nations of the whole world, the United States and Russia have global positioning systems. And also the European Union or the ESA has its own navigation satellite system called Galileo. And for India and Japan, they also built their regional navigation satellite systems. So you can see, almost all the space capable nations with no exception has built their own navigation satellite systems and of course China should do it.