The third step of Beidou, when the world is shocked – revealing the secrets of the Beidou-3 global networking satellite

　　At 19:45 on November 5, our country successfully launched two Beidou-3 global networking satellites with a Long March-3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Xinhua News Agency (Yang Zhiyuan, photo)

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 5th: The third step of Beidou, when the world is shocked – the secret of Beidou-3 global networking satellite

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Hu Zhe, Bai Guolong, Yu Xiaojie

　　The third step of Beidou is to surprise the world!

　　On November 5, the Beidou-3 satellite, which has attracted worldwide attention and people’s expectations, opened the prelude to global networking. According to the goal of "completing the launch of 18 satellites around 2018, taking the lead in providing basic services to countries along the’Belt and Road Initiative ‘; achieving a global network of 35 Beidou satellites in 2020, with the ability to serve the world", China’s Beidou is making great strides to the world.

　　How will Beidou-3 achieve the "triple jump" from domestic to regional to global satellite navigation? Where is the technological lead? What surprises will it bring to people and the world?

　　Domestic, Regional, Worldwide: Beidou Navigation Achieves Historic "Triple Jump"

　　As one of the three major satellite navigation systems in the world, the Beidou satellite navigation system that travels in the earth’s orbit, from Beidou-1 to Beidou-2 to provide regional services, and then to Beidou-3 global network, continuously providing accurate and high-quality services for the majority of users.

　　"You want me to have, you want me to be excellent, serve human society and benefit the general public." Since December 27, 2012, the Beidou regional navigation system officially provided regional services, and the Beidou system has received more and more attention from countries.

　　In January 2017, the Beidou-2 satellite project won the special prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Yang Hui, chief engineer of the Beidou-2 project satellite system of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said that the Beidou-2 satellite project took eight years of development and construction, got rid of dependence on foreign satellite navigation systems, and achieved a historic "triple jump".

　　"China’s Beidou, the world’s Beidou." It is turning from a blueprint into a reality. Xie Jun, deputy chief designer of the Beidou No. 3 project and chief chief satellite designer of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, introduced that long before Beidou-2 officially provided regional navigation and positioning services, our country began the demonstration and development of the Beidou-3 global navigation system, and determined the development goal of building an independent, open, compatible, technologically advanced, stable and reliable global satellite navigation system.

　　Xie Jun said that compared with the Beidou-2 regional system, the Beidou-3 service area will be expanded to the world, and at the same time, key technological breakthroughs such as downlink navigation signal upgrade and transformation have been achieved, achieving a smooth transition with the Beidou-2 downlink navigation signal. On this basis, new navigation signals have been added to provide users with better services.

　　It is reported that the construction of high-performance, high-reliability Beidou global satellite navigation system is one of the 16 national science and technology major special projects in the medium and long-term development plan of our country’s science and technology field.

　　High Precision, High Reliability, High Insurance: Beidou-3 Technological Breakthrough

　　Chi Jun, commander-in-chief of the Beidou-3 satellite of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told reporters that just as water and power outages affect urban life, once the satellite navigation service fails, not only the country’s economic operation will be greatly affected, but also people’s lives will be greatly affected. This also puts forward demanding requirements for the reliability of the satellite navigation system. Overall, Beidou-3 has the characteristics of high precision, high reliability, high insurance, and multi-functionality.

　　- High accuracy. On the basis of the performance of Beidou-2, Beidou-3 was designed with the goal of the third-generation GPS navigation satellites that had not yet been launched and the design indicators of the European Galileo navigation system.

　　The positioning accuracy of the Beidou-3 global navigation system will be greatly improved, reaching the level of 2.5 meters to 5 meters. After completion, the Beidou global navigation system will provide civilian users with free positioning services with an accuracy of about 10 meters, 0.2 meters per second speed measurement service, and will provide paid users with a higher accuracy level of services. The satellite design life is more than 10 years. With the Beidou ground-based enhancement system providing initial services, it can provide meter-level, sub-meter-level, decimeter-level, and even centimeter-level services. By then, China’s Beidou accuracy will be comparable to that of the US GPS.

　　- High reliability. Beidou is a system engineering. Every time a user enjoys the service of the Beidou system, it must ensure that there are at least four satellites to provide services; Beidou is a global coverage system, and at least more than 20 satellites need to provide stable services at the same time. This feature determines that the Beidou system requires higher quality reliability than a single star, and more stringent requirements for product reliability. Beidou is also a system whose inherent properties require continuous operation. The signal cannot be interrupted, and the system must be continuous, stable, intact and reliable.

　　- High insurance. According to Wang Ping, chief designer of the Beidou-3 satellite of the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Beidou satellite global navigation system, as a large-scale system project, adopts multiple reliability "reinforcement" measures to maximize the insurance factor of the system.

　　For example, after the system is completed, the number of operating satellites is greater than the number of satellites necessary for service; at the same time, the Beidou-3 satellite also adopts a number of measures such as software redundancy, fault self-diagnosis, and fault self-repair to ensure system reliability and greatly enhance the user experience.

　　- Multi-function. In addition to features such as short messages, China’s Beidou can also send users’ location information, so that others can know the user’s situation, and better solve the problem of who, what, and where. Combining text messages with navigation is a major feature of the Beidou satellite navigation system. One end point can have both navigation and communication.

　　Far away? Close at hand! Beidou service is everywhere

　　Ofo’s small yellow cart and Beidou Navigation jointly launched the Beidou smart lock; the small blue bicycle used the Beidou foundation enhancement system to achieve meter-level positioning, even in the shade of the tree, there will be no "drift"… In order to report "where I am" more accurately, shared bicycles have been connected to the Beidou high-precision time and space positioning service one after another.

　　Shared bicycles are just one of the applications that Beidou has in the near future to serve people’s livelihood. From emergency rescue and disaster relief to precision agriculture, from fishery broadcasting to smart housing management… In recent years, various high-precision location-based service products of Beidou satellite navigation have been widely used in all aspects of the national economy and people’s livelihood under the new model of "Beidou + Internet + Other Industries".

　　The recently released White Paper on the Development of China’s Satellite Navigation and location-based service industry (2016) shows that the total output value of our country’s satellite navigation and location-based service industry reached 211.80 billion yuan in 2016, an increase of about 22.06% over 2015. Beidou’s contribution rate to the core output value of the industry reached 70%, and our country’s satellite navigation and location-based service industry has broad prospects.

　　"At present, Beidou applications in our country have entered a stage of rapid development. With the combination of satellite navigation technology with the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing and other technologies and fields, satellite navigation and location-based services have become important strategic emerging industries in our country," said Min Yiren, deputy director of the National Bureau of Surveying, Mapping and Geographic Information.

　　In Hainan Wenchang Qinglan Port, the Beidou navigation end point is the standard for fishermen to go to sea: the operation can be monitored in real time, the fishing boat can be alerted at any time when it is in danger, and the weather forecast and early warning notification can be listened to at sea. Beidou has become the "clairvoyant", "downwind ear" and "amulet" in the mouth of fishermen…

　　Yu Xiancheng, president of the China Satellite Navigation and Positioning Association, said that Beidou technology has jumped out of the category of single navigation technology. Under the urgent needs of various industries such as urban gas, urban heating, power grid, water supply and drainage, the National Beidou Precision Service Network has provided Beidou precision services for various industry applications in more than 400 cities across the country, effectively promoting the optimization and improvement of smart city infrastructure.