BEIJING: China has begun operating a homegrown satellite navigation
service in order to reduce its 'dependence' on the US' Global
Positioning System (GPS).
The new system called 'Beidou', or 'Big Dipper', would cover most
parts of the Asia Pacific by next year and then the world by 2020,
said Ran Chengqi, a spokesman for the system.
Beidou started providing initial positioning, navigation and timing
operational services to China and its surrounding areas from Tuesday,
a spokesman for the system said.
China was keen to assemble a home grown satellite system of its own to
reduce dependence on GPS, specially for its armed forces who apprehend
that that the reliance on US systems could be dangerous for the
security.
Six more satellites will be launched in 2012 to further improve the
Beidou system and expand its service area to cover most parts of the
Asia-Pacific region, spokesman Ran Chengqi, who is also director of
the management office of the China Satellite Navigation System, told
media here.
China began to build the Beidou system in 2000 with a goal of breaking
its dependence on the GPS and creating its own global positioning
system by 2020.
So far, China has launched 10 satellites for the Beidou system, with
the tenth being lifted into orbit earlier this month.
The Beidou system is compatible and interoperable with the world's
other major global navigation satellite systems, according to Ran.
Ran encouraged enterprises at home and abroad to join the research and
development of application terminals compatible with Beidou, saying a
beta version of the system's Interface Control Document (ICD) could be
accessed online starting Tuesday, state-run Xinhua news agency
reported.
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