China's satellite navigation andpositioning industry gained a total output value of 345 billion yuan (about$52.8 billion) in 2019, according to the latest report. The sector's outputvalue is expected to hit 400 billion yuan in 2020, according to the reportreleased by the China Satellite Navigation Office on the construction anddevelopment of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

Over the past decade, China has seen thetotal output of its satellite navigation and positioning industry grow by anannual average of more than 20 percent, read the report. The country hascultivated a booming satellite navigation and positioning industry, with acomplete industrial chain. China officially commissioned BDS on July 31,opening the new BDS-3 system to global users.

Along with positioning, navigation andtiming services, the BDS-3 system can provide a variety of value-added serviceslike global search and rescue assistance, short message communication,ground-based and satellite-based augmentation, as well as precise pointpositioning. BDS has provided comprehensive services for sectors such astransport, public security, disaster relief, agriculture, forestry and urbangovernance, read the report.

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS-3) was officially commissioned recently, which marked a success of thecountry's three-step strategy for developing the navigation satellite systemand a start of the system's global service.

Starting in November 2009, the constructionof the BDS-3 went through five stages, including tackling key technologies,testing satellite projects, as well as the building of simple, basic andcomplete systems. The constellation deployment of the BDS-3 was finished half ayear in advance, which enabled the system to start full service.

The BDS-3 system involves efforts of morethan 400 agencies and 300,000 research personnel and technicians, who tackledmore than 160 key core technologies, from inter-satellite links tohigh-precision atomic clocks, and localized the production of over 500 types ofequipment component. All key components of the BDS-3 were manufactured byChina.

The lead time of a single satellite wasreduced by 1/4, the general assembly time for carrier rockets by 1/3, and thetime needed for satellites to join the constellation by 3/4.

The BDS-3 combines navigation andcommunication capabilities, and can provide services of navigation, shortmessage communication, satellite-based augmentation, international search andrescue, as well as precise point positioning. All the services are covered bythe Interface Control Document the system has published.

The BDS-3 has a high performance, withpositioning accuracy less than 10 meters, velocity measurement accuracy lessthan 0.2 meter per second, timing accuracy less than 20 nanoseconds, andservice availability of over 99 percent. It functions better in theAsia-Pacific region.

Short message communication andhigh-accuracy application are the two major features of the BDS-3. Shortmessage communication allows users to send up to 1,000 Chinese characters(14,000 bytes) per message at most at one time, as well as pictures and voicemessages. With global inter-satellite links, the system also offers globalmessage communication services.

Based on the BDS-3, a high-accuracyaugmentation network has been built on the ground with a total of nearly 3,000ground stations. The network is able to detect abnormal movements at centimeterlevel in real-time, and millimeter level in post-analysis.

Ran Chengqi, Director General of ChinaSatellite Navigation Office and the spokesperson of the BeiDou NavigationSatellite System, introduced that the Chinese navigation system has beenapplied in industries such as transportation, public security, disaster relief,farming and urban governance, and has been integrated into China's key basicinfrastructure construction, including electricity, finance and telecom.

Ran said 28-nanometre chips that enablemobile devices to receive signals from the Beidou navigation system are in massproduction, and mass manufacturing of high-precision 22-nanometre positioningchips will soon kick off, adding that a complete industrial chain of chips,modules, boards, terminals, operation services for Beidou has been built.

In the past decade, the total output valueof China's satellite navigation and location services industry has been growingat an average annual rate of more than 20 percent, reaching 345 billion yuan($49.47 billion) in 2019 and is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan this year,Ran said. As the Beidou navigation system steps up its efforts on newinfrastructure, it is undergoing in-depth integration with new technologiessuch as new-generation communication, block chain, Internet of Things andartificial intelligence.

As one of the four major global satellitenavigation systems recognized by the United Nations, Beidou has been constantlydeepening its compatibility, interoperability and cooperation with the UnitedStates' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the EU's Galileo. It has also enteredinternational organizations of civil aviation, maritime affairs, search andrescue satellite, and mobile communication. Multiple international standardsrelated to BDS have been released. So far, China has exported its basicproducts of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System to more than 120 countriesand regions, offering services for over 100 million users.

According to Ran, China has startedconstruction of the next-generation Beidou navigation after the completion ofthe BDS-3. "A more ubiquitous, integrated and intelligent navigation andtiming system with comprehensive national positioning is scheduled to beestablished by 2035, so as to offer supports for future smart and unmanneddevelopment, promote upgrading of the system, integrate emerging technologies,develop quantum navigation and all-source navigation, and build a time andspace services infrastructure that is all-dimensional, standardized,high-accuracy, smart, secure and efficient," Ran said.

China has expanded the application ofBeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) in transportation, with over 6.9million commercial vehicles having BDS installed in them, the Ministry ofTransport (MOT) said.

About 31,400 postal and express deliveryvehicles, 1,369 public service ships and 300 general-purpose aircraft have BDSinstalled, Wu Chungeng, an official with the MOT, said at a press conferenceearlier this week.

Wu said China has issued a special plan forthe application of BDS in railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation.China is also improving the standards and specifications for BDS terminalsinstalled in vehicles, ships and aircraft to facilitate the application, Wuadded.

Chinese companies are working to introduceBeidou-related products in more overseas countries, after the navigation systemhas garnered about 100 million users and covered more than 200 countries andregions.

Zhou Ruxin, chairman of BDStar Navigation,a Beijing-based company that develops Beidou-related high-precision positioningequipment, said: "After Beidou started offering full-scale globalservices, people anywhere in the world can access Beidou's high-qualityservices, which will further promote the global application of the Beidousystem and accelerate Chinese products' go-global push."

In recent years, the company has acquired a50-percent stake in In-tech GmbH, a German automobile engineering serviceprovider, for 60 million euros ($71 million) and a 100-percent stake in RxNetworks Inc, a Canadian navigation satellite system provider, for anundisclosed amount. The moves are part of its broader efforts to go global.

By the end of 2019, Chinese products basedon the Beidou system had been sold to more than 120 countries and regions,playing a helpful role in a number of public sector fields, according to areport from the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-based ServicesAssociation of China, which goes by the abbreviation GLAC.

Beidou covered the entire Asia-Pacificregion in 2012, and started offering full-scale services on July 31. During thetime period, Beidou has seen increasing applications, from land ownershipinvestigations to smart agriculture, intelligent construction, and other areasin Asia, Europe and Africa.

For instance, Beidou has helped Russiaimprove its electric grid inspections, made operations more convenient forusers of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones in Cambodia, boosted managementefficiency of many warehouses in Thailand, and facilitated construction work inKuwait, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

To promote the global application ofBeidou, China has implemented the "Beidou System Tour" series ofevents, and pushed forward the establishment of the Beidou System Centers in anumber of countries. The BSCs will enable better understanding of thenavigation system, said a white paper on China's Beidou Navigation SatelliteSystem published by the State Council Information Office.

According to the white paper, China hasalso opened the Beidou International Exchange and Training Center, and ademonstration platform for education and training in the field of satellitenavigation.

In addition, academic education, summerschools, short-term training courses, symposiums, and other internationaleducation and training activities have been regularly held to popularizeknowledge of Beidou. In April 2019, the second China-Arab States BDS (BeidouSystem) Cooperation Forum was held in the Tunisian capital Tunis, which wasreported by Xinhua News Agency.

"The BDS cooperation is the bestexample of strategic cooperation between China and Arab states, as satellitenavigation integrates many high-tech areas, including telecommunication andspace technologies," said Slim Khalbous, Tunisian minister of highereducation and scientific research, at the forum.

Wang Zhaoyao, chairman of the ChineseSatellite Navigation Committee, said the Beidou system has been applied in manyMiddle East and African countries, including Tunisia, Algeria, Kuwait andSudan, in areas such as precision agriculture, telecommunication, maritimemonitoring and disaster relief.

Following the full commissioning of theBeidou system, Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the United Nations Office forOuter Space Affairs, said in a congratulatory letter: "This historicmilestone is a significant step toward increasing the availability of precisegeolocation services through Global Navigation Satellite Systems for people allover the world.

"Initiated in 1994, the Beidou programhas been over 25 years in the making. This result is only possible with along-standing and sustained commitment to space. Indeed, the completion of theBeidou program reminds us all: space is not easy and must always be consideredin the long term."