Beidou: Chinese GPS-Now Functional

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 28 December 2011, 23:54 IST
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Bangalore: Beidou, China’s alternative to the American GPS system, is now operational, and will offer navigation, timing, and positioning services to China and its surrounding areas, said the Beidou project spokesman Ran Chengqi, who also is the director of the management office of the China Satellite Navigation System.

Currently, the Beidou system (translated as the Big Dipper in mandarin) promises civilians clock synchronization that is accurate to 0.02 millionths of a second, measure of speeds within 0.2 meters per second and positioning data that is accurate to the nearest 10 meters.  The Chinese military will be privy to more precise information.

This month saw the launch of the tenth satellite for the project, which was kicked off in 2000. China plans to launch an additional six satellites in 2012 to further enhance and expand the reach of the Beidou system to cover most parts of the Asia-Pacific region, and then Asia. By 2020, the project plans to offer worldwide coverage with 35 satellites in orbit.

China started the project in 2000 with the aim of not having to rely on the GPS developed by the Pentagon while Lockheed Martin, is in the process of upgrading the American system to GPS III.

According to defense experts, the Beidou system could help to identify, track, and attack foreign missiles and naval forces in the event of armed conflict. However, the official Report on the Development of Beidou Navigation Satellite System said that it has greatly helped in the fields of hydrological monitoring, weather forecasting, and disaster mitigation.

Other satellites that provide positioning services are the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) network from Russia which reported 100 percent coverage of the Earth earlier this month, and the Galileo system from the EU, which launched its first satellite in October and is still in the process of development. The European Space Agency said their network would be complete by 2019.