The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radio navigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been developed as an alternative to U.S. GPS. In July 2020, the BDS was officially completed and started providing full-scale global services, after the final satellite to complete BeiDou’s third-generation network was put into a geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above the Earth in late June of that year. It was a new milestone in China’s space industry and a major achievement in the country’s efforts to boost science, technology and innovation. BeiDou is the country’s largest space-based system and one of the four global navigation networks, along with the US’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and the EU’s Galileo. The completed Beidou Navigation Satellite System is expected to provide global coverage, with millimeter-level accuracy.
Construction of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) has been completed. The system was formally commissioned on July 31, 2020. In 2021, BDS continued to improve performance, expand applications and deepen cooperation, and has achieved sustained, stable and rapid development
There are 45 BDS satellites in orbit. There are now 120 Beidou ground stations around the globe. A few US allies, including Canada, Australia and Japan, host some of the facilities. The ground facilities are intended to track the Chinese satellites when they fly over the region and report their flight status to Beijing. GPS has 11 command and control antennas and 16 monitoring sites around the world, according to the US government. The data is used to help increase the accuracy of the positioning service with a margin of error of 3cm, according to information from the China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO).
“The observation stations have covered the operational orbits of all Beidou satellites,” said the representative in Nov 2022. “An observation station does not undertake the role of data transfer [to or from the satellites], and only provides data for calibrating the calculation model.”
The space and ground infrastructure systems have formed a more complete service capacity, and overseas markets have expanded significantly. According to authorities, the scale of China’s satellite navigation industry exceeded 400 billion yuan ($43 billion) by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
The output value of China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) reached a new high of 469 billion yuan ($69 billion) in 2021, up 16.29 percent year on year, according to a white paper released on Wednesday, noting that China has basically formed its BeiDou industrial system. The white paper, issued by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Location Based Service (LBS) Association of China, together known as GLAC, attributed the rapid growth to the global service of BDS-3 system started on July 31, 2020, which further stimulated demand for and attracted more investments in BDS technological applications.
Yu Xiancheng, president of GLAC, told China Media Group (CMG) that “China’s satellite navigation and positioning service industry is moving towards a new stage of comprehensive space-time system construction in an all-round way. In this context, the BeiDou system is playing a significantly enhanced role in stimulating and leading economic and social development.”In addition, the white paper said that China remained the top source of international satellite navigation patent applications last year, totaling 98,000.
On the business side, more than 70 percent of Chinese smartphones already use the system, according to a BeiDou spokesperson. Smartphone manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Apple and Samsung already support BDS. In the first three quarters of 2021, among all types of smartphones applying for online access in China, 72.3% supported positioning function based on BDS, accounting for 93.5% of the total sales volume. The BDS ground-based augmentation function has been introduced into smartphones to achieve high-precision positioning at the 1-meter level; lane-level navigation is being piloted in several cities in China.
In terms of industrial applications, BDS has fully served multiple industries including transportation, public security, disaster relief, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing. It has accelerated the integration into electricity, finance, communications and other infrastructure. In particular, in the fight against COVID-19 through scientific and technological approaches, BDS-based precise positioning has facilitated the efficient supply and circulation of anti-epidemic materials.
Other reports indicate that BeiDou receivers have been integrated into millions of taxis, buses, and trucks. And as of 2019, it had more than 400 million users worldwide.
In September 2022 , Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co launched the Mate 50 smartphone, a device that uses the Beidou system to offer greater signal range in remote areas. Registered users can send free messages to high-altitude Beidou satellites that orbit more than 30,000km above Earth.
According to NORINCO, the Beidou data centre can handle 18 million messages per hour, with each message containing about 1,000 Chinese characters for non-military users. The service is currently limited to Chinese consumers, but some governments have expressed concerns that the technology could be used as a spy tool.
International Cooperation
BDS has always adhered to the development concepts of openness, cooperation and resource sharing; actively carried out practical international exchanges and cooperation; and contributed to China’s peaceful use of outer space
Over 30 countries, largely in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, use the system, including for various projects in Indonesia, Kuwait, Uganda, Myanmar, the Maldives, Cambodia, Thailand, and Russia. With an advanced satellite-based augmentation system, the BDS can also provide low-cost and reliable navigation services to civil aviation clients at home and abroad.
China’s home-grown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will expand its cooperation to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and then to the entire Southeast Asia, in a bid to go global, the system’s operator has said. Du Li, general manager of Wuhan Optics Valley BeiDou Holding Group Co., told Xinhua recently that his company will continue to explore models for international scientific and technical cooperation on BDS, including the joint construction of base stations, joint technical development and research, personnel training and exchanges, and others. China has registered it as standard and become part of Global radio Navigation system.
China is also providing services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In the future, the Chinese government sees BeiDou and related services as a major industry, particularly for countries along the “Belt and Road” initiative, the swath of countries from Central Asia to Europe with whom Beijing has established trade, infrastructure, and debt deals to enhance its influence. This growing user base for BeiDou outside of China adds to its geopolitical and economic heft.
The space-based Silk Road initiative was proposed in 2014 by the International Alliance of Satellite Application Service (ASAS), a China-based organization of aerospace companies, institutions and scholars that promotes Chinese satellite services around the world. The space-based Silk Road will use dozens of these satellites to meet the communication and remote-sensing application demand for the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, according to Wang Zhongguo, executive vice-president of the ASAS.
Russia and China have signed an agreement for navigation cooperation to increase the compatibility and interoperation between BDS and GLONASS. This will provide a more robust satellite navigation system with each architecture filling in the gaps of the other and jointly reaching further regions of the Globe.”In addition to developing Beidou, China is also looking for a chance to cooperate with Russia”, the paper said. Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin told the Moscow-based RIA Novosti that Russia’s GLONASS satellite system is capable of cover up the weaknesses of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System in future operations.” Russia and China signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Russia’s GLONASS navigation system and China’s Beidou, each is considering placing three ground stations in the other’s country.
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