Beidou’s “Upgrade” Brings New Opportunity for Maritime Circles

By Li Qing

Since the inception on December 27, 2012, Beidou navigation system has achieved fruitful results in its 5-year development, Beidou navigation satellites have reached 31, with even broader coverage; the system has realized upgrading, Beidou 3 networking has started; relevant products have succeeded in reduced volume, stable performance, reduced cost and accelerated industrialization process; its application in sky and sea has gradually increased and it has international standard in the international maritime sector..... An industry source said with rapid development of Beidou navigation system, foundation of its application in the maritime sector will get increasingly stronger, the application scope will get broader and application type will also be more and more.

In the maritime application of Beidou satellite navigation system, China has carried out a series of fruitful work.At the end of 2015, China announced to build the International Maritime Monitoring Center of the Beidou satellite navigation system to conduct Beidou system monitoring. The monitoring center,after completion, will fulfill the Chinese Government’s commitment to IMO to provide Beidou satellite navigation system services for global maritime users, carry out maritime monitoring of the Beidou satellite navigation system, conduct monitoring assessment on the system precision, operation status, spacial signal quality, service performance, etc., make timely announcements on the system operation status information to maritime users to ensure global maritime users can obtain Beidou satellite navigation services of high reliability. An industry source said China has spared no effort to promote satellite networking, ground facility construction, relevant product optimization, etc., paving the way for accelerated development of the Beidou satellite navigation system .

Beidou satellite navigation must realize complete internationalization if it is to become a global navigation system. For that purpose, China has made great effort in international standard and compatibility of the Beidou satellite navigation system and has made remarkable achievements.

In 2014 IMO Maritime Safety Committee passed the navigation safety circular on approval of the Beidou satellite navigation system, indicating the Beidou satellite navigation system has officially become the third global satellite navigation system which has obtained international legal position in maritime application after GPS and GLONASS. In the same year, the Beidou shipborne receiver standard was passed by IMO. In March 2017, the multiplysystem shipborne receiver standard which can match GPS, Beidou system and GLONASS was passed. Qu Yijiang,director of the Navigation Management Division, Maritime Administration, the Ministry of Transport, told the reporter the progresses China has made in the Beidou satellite navigation system shows maritime application of Beidou satellite has no obstacle in international maritime regulations. To date, the Beidou satellite navigation system has accessed to three international organizations --International Civil Aviation, International Maritime Transport, 3GPP Mobile Communication, the Beidou satellite navigation system standard and application has obtained approval and support of IMO, International Chamber of Shipping, International Maritime Radio Commission, International Electrotechnical Association and can provide free search and rescue services for the globe. These create conditions for international applications of the Beidou satellite navigation system as well as relevant product R&D, production and standardization.

In strengthening the compatible shared aspect of the Beidou satellite navigation system with other satellite navigation system, Beidou and GPS officially established a cooperation mechanism on the basis of coming into frequency compatibility consensus in 2014 to jointly drive development of civilian satellite navigation technology.In 2015 Beidou continued to work with Galileo to complete satellite navigation frequency coordination; in 2015 China and Russia signed Beidou and GLONASS shared compatibility statement and in 2017 Beidou and GLONASS successfully performed compatibility test of the two systems. An industry source said increasing the Beidou satellite navigation system compatibility is of significance to dissolving user doubt and persuading users to use the Beidou satellite navigation system. The path the Beidou satellite navigation system takes will be wider in the process of stepping towards the globe.

At the news briefing of 5-year anniversary of the inception of the Beidou satellite navigation system, Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation System Management Office and spokesman of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System, said nationwide about 4.85 million dangerous good vehicles,buses, shuttle buses and more than 40,000 fishing vessels and all fishery administration vessels are installed with Beidou terminal, and shared bikes also apply the Beidou satellite positioning system.

An industry source said that by formulating plans and implementing projects, China is vigorously promoting popularization and application of the Beidou satellite navigation system. At the early stage of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry of Transport and the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission jointly initiated Beidou-based inland ship navigation and transport service supervision demonstration project argumentation and implementation,applied Beidou emergency position indicting radio beacons, Beidou highprecision ship AIS terminal and other shipborne Beidou equipment in key waters including the Yangtze to boost full coverage of Beidou system application in China’s inland sector.

The application of the Beidou satellite navigation system also promotes development of relevant industrial chains.At present, development and application of ship Beidou navigation system related products has become scale. China Institute of Shipbuilding Industry Systems Engineering has completed development of Beidou fishing vessel terminal and operation platform, Beidou dredging ship monitoring terminal and operation platform, etc., and it is now developing Beidou-based smart ship communication and navigation system, Beidou-based electronic customs clearance system in line with market demand. China Shipboard Navigation Technology Co Ltd has successfully developed “Beidou-based ship comprehensive navigation system and smart shipborne terminal and operation platform”. China’s first batch of Beidou unmanned vessels developed by the Wuhan Chuhang Surveying Sci & Tech Co Ltd located in the National Geospatial Information Wuhan Industrialization Base have completed measuring tasks in trial voyages of the Yangtze, Yellow River, Huaihe River, etc. and realized mass production. An industry source said with the advance of Beidou satellite navigation system service schedule,the system provides effective technical means for ship positioning, ship supervision, information interaction and other increasing sectors, and study and development of various application systems is imminent.

The industry source noted that the Beidou satellite navigation system has infinite possibility for applications.In future China will further strengthen foundation enhanced system construction,improve navigation precision, step up application of the Beidou satellite navigation system in maritime distress research and rescue and boost its application in ocean shipping and offshore engineering.