China's BDS steps to wider applications at home, abroad

Visitors learn about the application of China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) on transportation management during the second International Summit on BDS Applications in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province, Oct. 26, 2023. [Xinhua/Chen Sihan]

CHANGSHA -- Scanning to unlock a shared bicycle and start a city walk following the guidance of smartphone map navigation, riders can enjoy the journey with the help of China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

Equipped with BDS high-precision positioning chips, more than five million shared bicycles are in service across over 450 cities nationwide.

The second International Summit on BDS Applications, with the theme of "One World, BDS with You," is being held from Oct. 26 to 28 in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province. Visitors can experience the concrete changes and convenience brought by BDS to the people.

Visitors look at an exhibit during the second International Summit on BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Applications in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province, Oct. 26, 2023. [Xinhua/Chen Sihan]

RUNNING WITH LIFE

Since BDS started serving global users, China's satellite navigation and positioning industry has witnessed fast and stable progress. In 2022, the total value of the industry exceeded 500 billion yuan (about 69.65 billion U.S. dollars) in China.

The BDS has been broadly providing services in many fields, including transportation, disaster prevention and alleviation, agriculture, power, and gas, creating remarkable social and economic benefits.

In the transportation industry, the BDS is widely used in services such as transportation process monitoring, highway infrastructure security monitoring, and high-precision monitoring of ports.

The BDS system was applied to approximately 8 million road-operating vehicles, more than 47,000 ships, and more than 40,000 mainline postal and express delivery vehicles nationwide in 2022 to comprehensively improve the transportation informatization level and to significantly reduce the incidence of major traffic accidents.

Mapping software has called the BDS for positioning more than 360 billion times a day.

In the field of agriculture, more than 100,000 sets of agricultural machinery automatic driving systems are facilitated by the BDS, while 100,000 fishing boats are fitted with Beidou terminals onboard.

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 time, China has become 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.

The BDS-3 system has so far provided accelerated positioning and high-precision services to more than 1.5 billion users in more than 200 countries and regions.

This photo taken on Oct. 26, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of the second International Summit on BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Applications in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province. [Xinhua/Chen Sihan]

BROAD COOPERATION

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

The mature technology of BDS is utilized to help Pakistan establish its MM1 satellite-based augmentation system, Li Dongjun, Executive Vice General Manager of Great Wall Navigation Technology Co., Ltd., said during a thematic forum of the international summit. Upon establishment, the system will be independent from BDS, but it can be compatible and interoperable with BDS.

The company has also completed the development and deployment of the BDS Positioning Service System Platform applicable to countries in the Lancang-Mekong region.

The international cooperation and applications of BDS were based on the principles of openness, integration, coordination, compatibility, complementarity, and sharing, according to a white paper, titled "China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era," released in November 2022.

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.

Based on the BDS, services such as land confirmation, precision agriculture, and smart ports, have been successfully applied in ASEAN countries, South Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa to serve local economic and social development.

The BDS stands for Chinese people's wisdom, as well as international cooperation, Javier Alexis Andrade Romero, Engineering and Commercial Director with Bolivian Space Agency, said during delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the international summit, adding that the BDS has pushed forward diversified development of global positioning technology.