China plans to complete BeiDou-3 by 2020

Photo: Xinhuanet

China is planning to complete its updated navigation constellation by 2020, according to China’s news service Xinhuanet.

With 35 satellites, the completed BeiDou-3 will provide better coverage inside buildings and in urban canyons, according to researcher Jin Shuanggen, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. Shuanggen was addressing the second Beidou Summit Forum.

China has deployed three systems, BDS-1, BDS-2 and BDS-3, to provide accurate positioning and navigation services to the world, said Jin Shuanggen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the second China (Nanjing) BeiDou Satellite Navigation Application Expo and Beidou Summit Forum.

The BDS system currently has 38 in-orbit satellites including 18 BDS-2 and 20 BDS-3.

“Traditional satellites navigation service is hardly available in the interior of buildings, underground, underwater and other locations. The BDS system provides better accuracy in these locations,” he said.

“BDS will play a large role as it is used in different scenarios including smart city, agriculture and meteorology, autopilot, and intelligent transportation,” said Jing Guifei, dean of BeiDou Belt and Road School of Beihang University.

Along with the summit, a three-day exposition displayed BeiDou applications with more than 400 exhibitors. Fields covered included drones, autonomous ships, surveying and mapping, and intelligent robots and vehicles.