China develops complete BDS industrial chain

China has developed a complete industrial chain of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), according to the China Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO).

BDS has become a global constellation in stable operation. By now, 45 in-orbit BDS satellites are operational and in good mechanical health, ensuring the sustainable development of the industrial chain, said the CSNO.

China has developed a complete BDS industrial chain with innovative breakthroughs in basic BDS products such as the basic chips, modules, boards and antennas, and leapfrog development in performance and large-scale application.

China officially commissioned BDS on July 31, 2020, opening the new BDS-3 system to global users.

China-developed BDS is now operating alongside three other systems: GPS of the United States; Galileo of the European Union; and GLONASS of Russia.

The BDS can provide diverse services and powerful functions. Globally, the system can provide services of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), global message communication, and international search and rescue. In the Asia-Pacific region, its services include regional short message communication, precise point positioning, satellite-based augmentation, and ground-based augmentation.

In 2020, the total output value of China's satellite navigation and positioning services industry reached 403.3 billion yuan (about 63.3 billion U.S. dollars), up 16.9 percent compared with the volume in 2019.

Since the completion and commissioning of BDS, innovative BDS-based applications have been integrated into industries and mass consumer markets, serving diverse fields including telecommunication, transport, civil aviation, disaster relief and mitigation, agriculture, and forestry.

The application of the BDS ground-based augmentation system in smartphones can enable one meter-level positioning accuracy.

Nearly 80 percent of smartphones put into use in the first half of 2021 in China supported the BDS.

BDS is empowering transportation by playing roles in reducing the incidence of major traffic accidents and accelerating intelligent transportation. In 2020, the BDS system had been installed on more than 7 million vehicles.

BDS makes agriculture more smart and efficient by saving labor costs. There are more than 45,000 units of BDS-based automatic driving systems installed on agricultural machinery across China.

It is also protecting people's lives and property by providing real-time dynamic data for decision-making. In fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, BDS has played a role in personnel movement control, infrastructure construction, and supplies distribution by unmanned vehicles.

BDS-related basic products have been exported to more than half of the countries and regions in the world, serving their socio-economic development in fields such as precision agriculture, smart ports and land rights confirmation, according to the CSNO.