The China Daily has reported China's homegrown Beidou Navigation Satellite System began providing initial positioning, navigation and timing operational services to China and its surrounding areas from 27th December.
Beidou is being developed to rival the
United States-developed Global Positioning System (GPS), the European Union's Galileo and Russia's
Global Navigation Satellite System, and is aimed at allowing travelers,
drivers and military officials to accurately know their locations.
The system will provide service with high
precision and credibility for industries and sectors including mapping,
fishery, transportation, meteorology and telecommunications.
To date, China has launched 10 satellites for the Beidou system, with the tenth being lifted into orbit earlier in December. Ran Chengqi, director of the management office of the China Satellite Navigation System, told a press conference 6 more satellites will be launched in 2012 to further improve the Beidou system and expand its service coverage across most parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
China began building the Beidou system in 2000 with a goal to break its dependence on the US GPS and so creating its own global positioning system by 2020.
The Beidou system is compatible and interoperable with the world's other major global navigation satellite systems, according to Ran. He also encouraged enterprises at home and abroad to join the research and development of application terminals compatible with Beidou, saying a beta version of the system's Interface Control Document (ICD) could be accessed online starting 27th December.
The onset of Beidou's operations expands China's reach beyond its borders and has profound implications in sectors like maritime trade and military development across the Asia Pacific space.
Tuesday 27 December 2011
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