ICG aims for stronger interoperability, transparency

The United Nations’ International Committee on GNSS (ICG) held its 13th meeting in Xi’an, China, Nov. 4-9. Attendees included the four major GNSS: GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou (China) and Galileo (Europe). Also attending were representatives from Japan, India and delegates from 16 countries and regions.

Members called for further strengthening of the interoperability and transparency of GNSS to help more countries enjoy the developments in positioning, navigation and timing, according to China Global Television Network.

On Nov. 7, China and Russia signed a cooperation agreement for BeiDou and GLONASS, stressing that the two systems begin testing service aims for countries along China’s Belt and Road.

More than 400 delegates across the world also watched the demonstration of applications based on China’s BeiDou system, which includes drones and vehicle positioning technology that could be used by self-driving cars.

The positioning system was tested on a bus with accuracy reaching millimeters, as shown in a video on this page. This technology lays the foundation for the management of urban traffic.

Photo: Beidou.gov