China boosts large-scale application of BDS

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- China will accelerate the development of the large-scale application of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) in marketization, industrialization, and internationalization, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

Since its completion in 2020, the BDS has been operating continuously, steadily, and reliably, providing powerful satellite navigation services. Its capabilities in high-precision and short-message services have been fully verified, said the office.

The BDS system applies to more than 7.9 million road-operating vehicles, more than 47,000 ships, and more than 40,000 mainline postal and express delivery vehicles nationwide. Nearly 8,000 BDS terminals of various types have been applied and promoted in the railway sector.

More than 100,000 agricultural machines have been installed with the BDS automatic driving system, covering agricultural production links such as deep farming, rice transplanting, sowing, plant protection, harvesting, straw treatment, and drying.

The number of reservoirs using BDS short message communication services for hydrological monitoring stands at 2,587, and 650 deformed landslide bodies have BDS monitoring stations.

More than 5 million shared bikes equipped with BDS high-precision positioning chips operate in more than 450 cities nationwide.

Mobile phones that support BDS short message communication function have been released, which is the world's first smartphone with a direct satellite connection.

BDS is making every effort to empower all walks of life and become an important engine to promote economic and social development.

Meanwhile, the international development of BDS continues to deepen. A white paper titled "China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the New Era" has been released.

China has signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in satellite navigation with the Arab Civil Aviation Organization and the United Arab Emirates. It also issued a statement on cooperation between BDS and Russia's GLONASS.

The BDS system actively contributes to building a community with a shared future for humanity.

By 2035, China will build a national comprehensive space-time system with the next-generation BDS system at its core to provide secure and reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services, according to the office.