2018年CRI Beidou System closer to build global satellite network: experts

Researchers say that China's domestically-developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System brings the country closer to achieving its goal of building a satellite network with global coverage 1.

The comments were made at the 9th China Satellite Navigation Conference, which kicked off on Wednesday in the northeast Chinese city of Harbin.

Experts from countries including China, the United States, and Russia attended the three-day event to exchange ideas on topics such as satellite navigation applications and location services.

Ran Chengqi, the director of China's Satellite Navigation System Management Office, says the Beidou system has been operating steadily 2 since it began offering services in December 2012.

"It's been five and a half years since Beidou-2 went into operation. The system has been operating stably with no break-offs occurring. The positioning accuracy has been raised from ten meters to six meters. Two more Beidou-2 satellites will be launched in the next two years, in order to pursue further progress, while ensuring stable performance," says Ran.

Compared to Beidou-2, the third generation Beidou-3 satellites can broadcast messages of better quality, since new functions such as a satellite crosslink system and global search and rescue capability 3 have been added.

Eight Beidou-3 satellites have been successfully launched over the past six months, and all of them are operating well in orbit.

Experts say that Beidou-3 is closer to achieve the goal of building a network of 35 satellites with global coverage by the end of 2020.

That network will provide services for global users, with the priority of serving the Belt and Road countries and regions.

"The Beidou system has helped reduce the rate of major road traffic accidents and injuries by more than half from that in 2012. The time needed by police to arrive at accident scenes has also been shortened by nearly 20%, while the time for reporting major emergencies is shortened to within one hour. Over 40,000 fishing vessels 4 have been equipped with the Beidou system, helping 5 rescue more than 10,000 fishermen and fisherwomen," says Ran.

Wang Li, the chairman of the China Satellite Navigation System Committee, says Beidou is aiming to become one of the world's leading satellite navigation systems.

"First, the system should provide top-notch services, featuring high accuracy, good stability, and strong reliability 6, so that customers will be satisfied. Secondly 7, it should be indigenous 8, meaning it must be independently developed and innovated 9 in China, in order to form a home-grown industry. Third, it should be integrated with the world, meaning it must be in line with international standards, and we must also conduct international cooperation and provide services to the international markets," says Wang.

Earlier last November, China and the United States signed a joint 10 statement on civil signal compatibility and interoperability between Beidou and the Global Positioning System (GPS).

David Turner, the Deputy Director of the Office of Space and Advanced Technology under the U.S. Department of State, says at the conference that the move will further promote the development of the Global Navigation Satellite System, the GNSS.

"U.S. policy encourages worldwide cooperation with other GNSS system providers, with cooperation focused on compatibility, interoperability, and transparency in the provision of civilian 11 services. We strongly support the continued work on cooperation among our respective systems that takes place under the International Committee on GNSS, and we are very pleased that this work is benefiting all users of GNSS worldwide," says Turner.

The Global Navigation Satellite System includes China's Beidou, the U.S. based GPS, Russia's Glonass, and Europe's Galileo.

The 9th China Satellite Navigation Conference, with the theme "Location, Time and Augmentation", runs from May 23rd to 25th.