Application and Prospect of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in the Transportation Industry

LIU Yumei ,ZHANG Nuan ,LIU Lijiao ,QIN Yiran ,GAO Ya ,WENG Yanyun ,LIU Jindan

1 China Transport Telecommunications &Information Center,Beijing 100011 2 China Transportation Innovation Investment Development (Beijing) Co.,Ltd.,Beijing 100011 3 Beihang University,Beijing 100191

Abstract:The transportation industry is one of the largest users of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS),characterized by multiple locations,long lines,wide range,and extensive mobility.The application of BDS in the transportation industry improves the development level of intelligent,safe,green and shared transportation.Based on the introduction of the application requirements and characteristics of BDS in the transportation industry,this paper systematically introduces the overall status of BDS in the transportation industry,covering highways,waterways,railways,civil aviation,and the postal service.Finally,the paper forecasts future applications of BDS in the field of transportation.It identifies within the transportation industry rich application scenarios for the cultivation of advanced technologies represented by BDS,enhancing transportation safety services and guaranteeing emergency communication,while improving the operation efficiency and management level of an integrated transportation system.

Key words:BeiDou Navigation Satellite System,transportation,industry application,application prospect

1 INTRODUCTION

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is an important space infrastructure independently constructed and operated by China.The BDS global network was completed in 2020,providing users with continuous,all-weather,high-accuracy positioning,navigation,and timing services,as well as satellite-based augmentation,short message communication,precision positioning,international search and rescue,and other featured services.The essence of transportation is the movement of people and objects.The BDS has been widely used in key road transport supervision,maritime emergency search and rescue,inland river navigation supervision and other fields,laying a solid foundation for the subsequent promotion and application of BDS in the transportation industry.Looking at the requirements of transportation capacity,new infrastructure,digital transportation construction and development,BDS will play an increasingly important supporting role in the transportation industry,and the application prospects are very wide.

2 REQUIREMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BDS APPLICATION IN TRANSPORTATION

Transportation is fundamental,strategic,and a leading industry impacting the national economy,social development and people's livelihood.Advanced information technology represented by satellite navigation is an important means to realize the digitization and modernization of transportation.It is of great significance to build a safe,convenient,efficient,green,and economic modern transportation system.Based on the BDS service capacity and application characteristics of different sectors of the transport industry,this paper summarizes the requirements of the transport industry for the BDS general application,see Table 1.

With the rapid development of China's transportation industry,the requirements for positioning,navigation,and emergency communication for precise governance,fine management,intelligent development and other fields are surging.The industry is faced with problems such as inaccurate data for traffic accident location,opaque dynamic supervision,non-linkage of search and rescue,and untimely release of emergency information.It can be seen from Table 1 that the capabilities of BDS match the demands of the transportation industry.BDS services such as basic navigation,short message communication,and international search and rescue can help solve the problems the transportation industry is facing.In addition,it can be integrated with parallel industries such as those for precise positioning,dynamic regulation,search and rescue,emergency communication,and infrastructure monitoring,so as to effectively improve the level of transportation services.

3 APPLICATION OF BDS IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

BDS has been applied in the transportation industry since it was established,and the system architecture is shown in Figure 1.The BDS has been widely used in transportation,including on highways,waterways,railways,civil aviation,postal services and in other fields,providing the industry with location information reporting,vehicle and ship dynamic supervision,safety information dissemination,emergency rescue and alarm services,with remarkable results.As of June 2020,about 7.6 million road vehicles,80,000 buses in 36 central cities,17,000 transport vessels,11,000 water navigation aids,352 general-purpose aircraft,and 33,000 postal express trunk vehicles have successfully adopted the system,which lays a solid foundation for the subsequent further promotion and application of BDS in the transportation industry[1,2].

3.1 Road Transportation

The transportation industry takes the lead in the large-scale application of BDS particularly in the field of road transportation.The BDS vehicle terminals are installed on tourist charter buses,liner buses and dangerous goods transport vehicles and freight vehicles.Based on the positioning and navigation information of BDS,a dynamic supervision system for key transport vehicles was constructed,which realizes the safety supervision of the whole process of vehicle transportation,effectively improving the safety management and digitalization level of the fleet,reduces the incidence of major transportation accidents,and ensures the traffic safety.In order to serve the concerns of the green environment,safety and shared travel of passengers,China has installed BDS intelligent terminals on buses,shared bicycles,online car-hailing and in other means of transportation.By using the high-precision positioning and intelligent navigation technology of BDS,vehicle precise positioning and intelligent route planning have been realized,providing precise travel services for travelers,reducing travel time and transfer times,thus improving traffic accessibility and travel efficiency with great significance.At present,the adoption rate of BDS for the Shanghai public transport network has reached 100%,providing accurate positioning services for travelers[3].BDS also effectively supports highway toll inspection,mileage tax reform and road condition monitoring.It integrates BDS high-precision positioning,electronic toll collection (ETC),millimeter-wave radar and other technologies to realize non-stop toll collection and all weather road condition seamless monitoring.It improves the highway traffic efficiency and transportation service capacity and innovates the expressway toll management mode and the operation monitoring mechanism,which is of great significance to promote the digitization to enable the smart highway[4].

Figure 1 BDS application system architecture diagram for transportation industry

3.2 Water Transportation

In order to improve the ability for the water traffic safety service,BDS terminals and equipment for maritime and inland river users in the transportation industry have been promoted and adopted.By using BDS navigation and positioning,short message communication and return link technology,the twoway feedback for ship position monitoring,broadcast of safety information and search and rescue information have been realized,which effectively improves shipping dynamic monitoring,emergency search and rescue capacity,and promotes the water traffic information service level.At the same time,based on BDS short message and medium orbit search and rescue technology,it provides short message security communication and international search and rescue services for regional and global maritime users,effectively protecting the life and property of domestic and foreign maritime operations[5].In order to improve the remote monitoring ability for navigation aids,BDS navigation aids telemetry through remote control equipment installed on the coastal navigation aids.BDS short message technology is used to return the information from the navigation aids,so as to provide continuous all-weather,high-precision,high-reliability navigation and aids service for passing ships.In order to speed up the construction of“smart port”,BDS terminals have also been installed on containers and container trucks at the Shenzhen Mawan smart port,Fuzhou Jiangyin port,Tianjin port,Wuhan Huashan port and other ports.At the same time,BDS high-precision positioning,5G communications,unmanned vehicles and other technologies have also been integrated to realize automation in the port yard loading and unloading process,particularly horizontal transport automation,truck dispatching and visual supervision in the port,which improves the port operation efficiency and promotes port digitization,automation and intelligence[6].

Figure 2 BDS auxiliary precise charging

3.3 Railway Transportation

In recent years,as an important information resource for the rail transit system,BDS provides navigation and positioning,precise timing,short message communication and other services,so has been adopted for train positioning,time synchronization of the communications network and signal control network,train monitoring and dispatch management,disaster monitoring along the railway,infrastructure monitoring and so on,strongly supporting the development of rail transportation.Based on BDS navigation positioning and timing technology,accurate positioning for high-speed rail operation,automatic clock synchronization of equipment in the signal system,and dynamic monitoring and intelligent scheduling of trains have been effectively verified and implemented within China's railway systems.The high-precision technology based on BDS can be applied to the precise measurement of railway track geometric state and subsidence monitoring.According to the actual requirements of the track,the measurement accuracy of parameters at millimeter and mileage in centimeters can be achieved[7].Relevant tests in China show that the measurement efficiency of the measurement equipment based on BDS high-precision technology is over 20 times higher than that of traditional methods[8].The system can realize continuous,all-weather and automatic monitoring of track geometric state and subsidence impact on the high-speed rail track.The measurement accuracy and efficiency meet the technical requirements for ballast track digital tamp operations and settlement observation,thus can effectively ensure the safety and efficiency for high-speed trains.

Figure 3 Maritime navigation and communications

Figure 4 Train monitoring and dispatching

3.4 Civil Aviation Transportation

Chinese experts and scholars have carried out appropriate research on the feasibility and safety of using BDS in the field of civil aviation monitoring operations and navigation,and promoted its application for landing[9].The BDS high-precision positioning technology can provide the complete process providing positioning,navigation and tracking services for aircraft,and can realize the functions of flight status monitoring,off-line yaw warning,etc.BDS short message communication technology can also provide services such as flight position reporting,receiving and sending of routine operation messages and emergency rescue communications information,effectively guaranteeing two-way communications between ground and air.Many studies and applications show that the existing BDS technology is feasible and safe for civil aviation monitoring and navigation.In addition,BDS also has been effectively applied in the field of airport surface monitoring and management.Through BDS differential positioning,mobile communications,radar/ADS-B,and other technologies,it provides sub-meter positioning accuracy and high-precision map services for aircraft and vehicles on the apron,and provides two-way digital communication services for airport monitoring of personnel and pilots.The integration and application of BDS technology and other technologies can enable the airport management to track the position and status of aircraft and vehicles in real time,support the intelligent scheduling and scheduling management of airport vehicles and personnel,so as to improve the safety and management efficiency of surface operations.The application of BDS technology in air transportation has greatly enhanced the development of air traffic management and improved service level.

3.5 Postal Transportation

In recent years,with the rise of e-commerce,users have placed more demands for security,timeliness,and reliability of postal logistics and on the freight transport industry,so the precise control of logistics and freight transport links has become more and more important.China Post integrates BDS navigation and postal private cloud,big data,visualization,and other technologies,and is independently building a postal vehicle operation control system,so as to realize the refined management,and echance service quality of postal transportation.The BDS terminal is installed on transport vehicles used by postal enterprises.The terminal collects the transportation information of packages from picking up to delivery,including vibration information,route information,environmental data,vehicle location information,and driver status,amongst others,enabling the dynamic monitoring of the whole process,and provides reliable data for refined control and the improvement of freight packaging technology.The research and application show that BDS technology can also provide real-time monitoring of vehicle operations,assist to provide automatic alarm for abnormal conditions,enable clear and transparent transportation cost calculation,scientific management and control of outsourcing transportation for postal enterprises,plus realize the collaborative management of people,goods,vehicles,roads,and significantly improve the accuracy of command and dispatch of postal transportation vehicles.At present,BDS terminals have been installed on the transport vehicles of many express trucking companies in China.Within the application of BDS for vehicles,the Deppon and Yunda express companies adoption has reached 100%.In addition,China Post also actively promotes the innovative application of the BDS high-precision service in unmanned delivery vehicles,unmanned aerial vehicles and in other fields.

Figure 5 Civil aviation application architecture based on BDS

Figure 6 Postal transport supervise framework

4 APPLICATION PROSPECTS FOR BDS IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

With the innovation brought by the new-generation of information technology and the construction of integrated positioning,navigation and timing (PNT) systems with BDS as the core,a more ubiquitous,more integrated and more intelligent comprehensive space-time system will be built in the future.BDS will begin to saturate new fields and play an important role in areas such as automatic vehicles,indoor positioning,vehicle road coordination,UAV's,intelligent logistics,free flow charging,port automation operations,collection and distribution dispatching systems and intelligent travel.It will promote an upgrade for industrial products and technologies,promote the rapid development of key industries such as transportation,communications and navigation,automobile electronics,and others bringing immeasurable economic and social benefits.

5 CONCLUSION

Using BDS,5G,cloud computing,artificial intelligence and other new generation information technologies,based on urban spatial information,integration of dynamic and static traffic data,the creation of a comprehensive intelligent transportation service has become an inevitable trend in China's transportation industry.The transportation industry provides rich application scenarios for the implementation of advanced technology represented by BDS,which will help to realize complete process management and control in the transportation industry.It will provide transportation safety services where emergency communications is guaranteed,while improving the operational efficiency and management level of an integrated smooth transportation system for sustainable economic development.