White paper: China’s BeiDou reaches world-class level

Visitors view a model of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System at the 20th China Beijing International High-tech Expo in Beijing, July 31, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China has built the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into a top-class system with cutting-edge technologies, pioneering design and powerful functions, according to a white paper published Friday by the State Council Information Office.

Titled "China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era," the white paper showed that BDS has been built into a world-class navigation system. It laid out how China plans to refine the system by improving its operation management, promoting sustainable development of BDS-based applications, and upgrading its governance in the coming years.

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The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is able to provide a wide range of services, such as positioning, navigation, timing, international search and rescue. It is the world's first navigation satellite system to provide a global short message communication service, according to a white paper published by the State Council Information Office

According to the document, the BDS has reached a world-leading level in core technologies in terms of hybrid constellation, inter-satellite links, and signal structure.

BDS is compatible with other navigation satellite systems and capable of providing diversified and specialized services, according to the paper.

It also highlighted BeiDou's outstanding batch production capability, saying that in less than three years, 18 rockets had carried 30 BDS satellites into orbit, "a pace unmatched by any other country.

BDS is able to provide a wide range of services, such as positioning, navigation, timing, and international search and rescue. It is the world's first navigation satellite system able to provide a global short message communication service, the paper noted.

The actual positioning accuracy of the BeiDou system is now better than five meters, and in some areas, between two and three meters, well above its design target of 10 meters, said Ran Chengqi, a spokesman for the system, at a media conference on the white paper in Beijing.

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The timing accuracy of the BDS has also exceeded the target of 20 nanoseconds, reaching 10 nanoseconds, Ran added, implying that the BDS is comparable to other major world navigation systems.

"The 100 percent independent development and operation of BDS core components has laid a solid foundation for its widespread use," the white paper read.

Development of BDS applications industry

China has made continuous efforts to refine the products supporting the BDS industry, expand its application fields, improve its industry ecosystem, and promote its large-scale applications, according to the document.

China has established a set of platforms featuring BDS services including international search and rescue, short message communication, satellite-based augmentation, and ground-based augmentation. It has also developed a series of basic products such as chips, modules and antennas, and realized 100-million-scale manufacturing of BDS products.

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In this June 23, 2020 photo, a carrier rocket carrying the last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

By developing standards and norms, intellectual property rights, testing and certification, and industrial assessment in a systematic manner, China has created a sound industrial ecosystem for BDS applications with all necessary factors and a strong innovation capacity, according to the white paper

By developing standards and norms, intellectual property rights, testing and certification, and industrial assessment in a systematic manner, China has created a sound industrial ecosystem for BDS applications with all necessary factors and a strong innovation capacity, according to the white paper.

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The BDS has been widely used in various industries and fields in China's socioeconomic development. It has been deeply integrated with emerging technologies such as big data, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence, fostering new business forms based on BDS. In 2021, the total output value of China's satellite navigation and location-based service industry reached 470 billion yuan ($64 billion).

The BDS has been widely applied in daily life through applications such as smartphones, vehicle terminals, and wearable devices. In 2021, 324 million Chinese smartphones supporting BDS services were shipped, accounting for 94.5 percent of the country's total, according to the white paper.

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China has released the first mobile phone in the world that supports the BDS-3 regional short message communication service by incorporating a chip into a mobile phone. Users can send short messages through BeiDou short message civil platform without changing SIM cards or phone numbers, BDS spokesperson Ran said.

Users can still report their location by text message even when there is no cell phone signal, the spokesperson added, noting that BDS allows users to stay in touch with the outside world giving them a sense of security.

Technology workers inspect an automated tractor equipped with the Beidou system at a farm in Dengzhou, central China's Henan province, May 25, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

By steadily improving the quality and increasing the scope of its services, BDS will build the capacity to provide global decimeter-level positioning and navigation with high integrity, thereby delivering better services to users worldwide

He also added that BDS has been widely used in agriculture and has become an important sci-tech force for supporting agricultural development.

BDS-based agricultural equipment, such as farming machinery, drones, autonomous tractors, planters and harvesters, are providing services to farmers around the country, helping them boost production efficiency. Farmers are able to plan their driving routes in advance through mobile phone terminals, Ran said.

Upgrade for better services

Meanwhile, the document indicated that China will further upgrade its BDS technologies, functions and services to create a comprehensive spatiotemporal system that provides flexible, smart, precise and secure navigation, positioning and timing services.

In building a more powerful BDS, China will create its own smart and distinctive system for operation, maintenance and management, and gain a competitive edge in services such as short message communication, ground-based and satellite-based augmentation, and international search and rescue, according to the white paper.

By steadily improving the quality and increasing the scope of its services, BDS will build the capacity to provide global decimeter-level positioning and navigation with high integrity, thereby delivering better services to users worldwide.

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China began to develop its own navigation satellite system in 1994. The BDS-1 entered service and began providing positioning services in China at the end of 2000. Since that, China became the third country in the world with a navigation satellite system.

The BDS-2 was completed in 2012, providing passive positioning services to the Asia-Pacific region. In 2020, the BDS-3 was formally commissioned to provide satellite navigation services worldwide, according to the white paper.

Cooperation for global benefits

China has also carried out active international cooperation on the BDS and advanced its applications across the globe, contributing to building a global community of shared future, according to the white paper.

The international cooperation and applications of BDS were based on the principles of openness, integration, coordination, compatibility, complementarity and sharing, the white paper noted.

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In this undated photo, workers set up a China Mobile 5G base station integrated with the Beidou system at a camp 6,500 meters above the sea level en route to the peak of Mount Qomolangma in May 2020. (JIGME DORJI / XINHUA)China has been active in advocating and advancing the compatibility and interoperability of different navigation satellite systems to provide users with more high-quality, diverse, secure and reliable services.

The cooperation between BDS and other global navigation systems, including GPS of the United States, Galileo of the European Union and GLONASS of Russia, has made excellent progress, BDS spokesperson Ran said.

It continues to promote the international cooperation and exchanges of BDS through measures such as strengthening cooperation mechanisms, increasing cooperation channels, and establishing cooperation platforms and windows, the white paper showed.

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China is also making every effort to have BDS ratified by international standards organizations and standards organizations in the industrial and specialized application sectors, such as civil aviation, maritime, search and rescue, and mobile communication

China has carried out bilateral and multilateral cooperations and exchanges with countries in Central Asia and Africa, and regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the League of Arab States, Ran said.

A Chinese delegation recently attended the meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which was held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and has received proposals from many countries and organizations for enhanced cooperation with BDS, Ran added.

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The previous international rescue signal was one-way, so it was unknown to the caller whether the distress signal was received by search and rescue organizations, Ran explained, adding that BDS ingeniously developed two-way signals to notify the caller that the distress signal has gotten a response, which would be a tremendous mental support for the caller.

The country is also making every effort to have BDS ratified by international standards organizations and standards organizations in the industrial and specialized application sectors, such as civil aviation, maritime, search and rescue, and mobile communication.

According to the white paper, China is working to accelerate the large-scale application of BDS worldwide, so as to boost economic and social development and improve public wellbeing across the globe.

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It pointed out that China is ready to share its achievements in developing BDS, and it will work with all other countries to promote the development of navigation satellite systems and make an even greater contribution to building a global community of shared future and a better world.