China supports homegrown Beidou to remove GPS dependence

Satellite navigation experts on China’s homegrown Beidou system:

• Beidou provides with positioning accuracy of 10 meters
• Beidou: The more widely used, the cheap
• China-created chip module will adapt to the mobile Internet
• Beidou: 'Booster' of weaponry

China provides policy supports to the development and application of the indigenous Beidou Navigation Satellite System to get rid of the country’s heavy reliance on Global Position System (GPS), Wu Hailing, Senior Engineer of China Satellite Navigation Office said in an interview with People’s Daily Online Tuesday.

"Before Beidou’s application takes shape, the domestic market is in fact dominated by GPS and its terminals. Particularly in some crucial industries for instance communications, that dominance is prevailing,” said Wu.

In China, GPS is widely used in mobile location-based services and the core chips of GPS terminals rely on exports “100 percent”. “This is the status quo the Beidou system has to face. This is a severe challenge.”

As countermeasures, China has taken actions to promote the application of BDS system by establishing pilot projects in key industries and areas.

From Jan. 14, the Ministry of Transport has required major transportation vehicles in some areas of China to use Beidou system.

The ministry also plans to build seven application systems and a supporting platform, and install 80,000 Beidou terminals in nine regions in two years, according to the ministry’s conference held on Monday.

National Reform and Development Commission (NRDC), China’s top economic planner, set about formulating a medium to long-term plan for satellite navigation industry, Wu added.

The oversea promotional campaign is also underway. “BDS went to Pakistan recently and had a demonstration and experience activity,” said Wu.

Read the Chinese version: 长期依赖进口 国家扶持北斗产业格局全面铺开

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