Chinese navigation system beidou. BeiDou: what's in a smartphone? What devices support this system

In size, which could have serious implications for both the industry and US national security. At the same time, the first BeiDou satellite was launched only in 2000 - 22 years after the start of the deployment of the US navigation system.

Nikkei analyzed the data and revealed the rapid growth of BeiDou. In 2018 alone, China launched 18 satellites for its navigation system. As of the end of June 2019, 35 BeiDou satellites were in operation, while the GPS network consisted of only 31 devices, the European navigation system - 22 satellites, and the Russian GLONASS - 24. There are 4 local satellites in Japan, and 6 in India. satellites have been observed more frequently than GPS satellites in 130 out of 195 countries. More than 20 BeiDou satellites have been spotted over mainland China.

China is using its Belt and Road Initiative to promote the BeiDou navigation system. BeiDou satellites dominated in 100 of the 137 countries that have joined the massive infrastructure project, most of them in Southeast Asia and Africa.

More than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa and other countries use the Chinese navigation system. If it becomes the standard navigation system in these regions, China will benefit from the introduction of new technologies and products.

In the report of the Commission on the Economy and Security of the United States and China, presented by the US Congress, it is indicated that the Chinese authorities will invest up to $ 10.6 billion in their navigation system between 1994 and 2020. By 2020, China plans to launch about 10 more satellites, which will improve positioning accuracy and strengthen BeiDou's position.

2018: Completion of creation of Beidou

The Chinese government plans not only to replace GPS in China with Beidou, but also to offer basic satellite navigation services to its partners around the world starting in late 2018.

According to the chief designer of Beidou Yang Changfeng, the launch of two more Beidou satellites into space was a key stage in the transition of the national experimental system to the regional, and subsequently to the international navigation system. He also noted that the satellite positioning accuracy has been increased from 5 to 2.5 meters compared to the previous generation BDS-2 satellites.

The new navigation satellites were delivered into orbit using the Changzheng-3-Bi launch vehicle. The launch took place from the Xichang cosmodrome (Sichuan province, Southwest China) at 02:07 local time (21:07 Moscow time). Three hours after the launch, both satellites entered their calculated medium-altitude near-earth orbits.

By November 2018, there are 19 satellites of the BDS-3 series in orbit, and the Beidou system includes 43 satellites. In 2019-2020, China plans to launch six more Beidou-3 series vehicles into medium-altitude near-earth orbit.

2017: Russia and China will create a technopark on satellite navigation

In the fall of 2017, the State Commission for the Chinese Navigation Satellite System invited the State Corporation for Space Activities to participate in the creation of an international innovation center for the use of satellite navigation, according to central media.

It is assumed that the joint center will develop applications based on satellite positioning

The structure can be created on the basis of one of the universities in China. All details of the project are planned to be discussed in May 2018 during the 9th China Conference on Satellite Navigation in Harbin.

"The center will concentrate information on the latest achievements in the field, it will be possible to demonstrate equipment and apparatus, conduct training and improve knowledge. It can be said to be an analogue of Skolkovo, but with a specialization in satellite navigation," the state corporation said.

Experts believe that the implementation of a joint Russian-Chinese project will contribute to strategic cooperation between the GLONASS and BeiDou systems, an agreement on which has been reached at the political level.

Now the parties are working on the creation of a joint receiver GLONASS / BeiDou, they are implementing a project on navigation and information support of cross-border crossings.

2012

At the end of 2012, the China Satellite Navigation Office published the signal specification for the Chinese navigation system Beidou. From now on, any manufacturer can produce receivers using the signals of this system. Those who wish are likely to be found, despite the fact that there are still fewer working satellites in the Beidou system than, for example, in GLONASS.

According to plans, the Beidou system (translated from Chinese means "Northern Bucket", which corresponds to the name of the constellation "Ursa Major"; sometimes the name "Compass" is also used) will consist of 35 satellites - five in geostationary orbits and thirty in medium-altitude orbits. It is expected that the horizontal positioning accuracy of the Chinese satellite navigation system will be 10 m, the time measurement accuracy is 10 nanoseconds, and the speed measurement accuracy is 0.2 m / s. Paying users will receive more accurate data as well as the ability to communicate using satellite communications.

The idea to create its own navigation system appeared in the PRC back in 1980. The first experimental satellite was launched in 2000. It is currently planned that Beidou will be fully deployed by 2020. In December 2012, Beidou began providing services to consumers in the Asia Pacific region. There are currently 14 operational spacecraft in space. In 2012, six navigation satellites were launched.

The rapid progress in building a Chinese navigation system looks like a miracle. Especially if you remember that back in 2009, the world made fun of the story with the Beidou G2 spacecraft. Let me remind you: the Chinese navigation satellite G2 of the Beidou system was launched on April 15, 2009 and on April 23, as the Chinese news agency Xinhua announced, entered the specified orbit. Soon after, it moved 10 degrees out of its orbit, became uncontrollable, and began to drift westward, adding to the ranks of space debris. Roughly the same story happened in 2007, when the Beidou 1D satellite launched by China got out of the control of Chinese specialists. Later, the PRC made an attempt to raise Beidou 1D by 130 km in order to make it less dangerous for the operating geostationary satellites of other countries.

Only three years have passed - and now the Chinese navigation satellites are functioning properly and quite reliably, and noisy incidents with them no longer happen. According to measurements, the accuracy of determining coordinates in the Beidou system in the Asia-Pacific region is currently about 25 meters horizontally and 30 meters vertically. The Research Center for Topographic Development of the State Bureau of Geodesy and Cartography of the People's Republic of China, together with the Public and Scientific Literature Publishing House, published a report on the development of satellite navigation in China in 2011. According to the document, this industry entered the PRC during a period of rapid development. It is assumed that by 2015 the turnover of the industry will exceed 225 billion yuan (about $ 36 billion) and will become an important new growth point for the national economy.

Increasingly, in the characteristics of the communication capabilities of smartphones, you can find in the "navigation" column the mention of BeiDou or BDS. Therefore, uninitiated users have a question about what exactly this function is and what possibilities it provides to the owner of the device. Also, many are interested in what devices there is Beidou, whether this function works in Europe and how to use it.

Beidou is a Chinese combined navigation system. The commissioning began in 2000. It was named after the Chinese name of the constellation Ursa Major. The system is designed to compete with the American GPS and Russian GLONASS. Like its rivals, this is a dual-use complex designed primarily for the military, but also available to civilian users. Currently (early 2017), the system is not yet global in scale, since it does not cover the entire earth's surface. The Chinese plan to achieve this goal in 2020.

How Beidou works

The Beidou navigation system consists of space and ground parts. The first is a constellation of satellites located in geostationary and medium earth orbits. The ground-based complex consists of a network of base stations, which also provide location determination, speeding up work and increasing the accuracy of navigation. Ground stations are currently located mainly in China and some Asian countries that are its allies or partners. But the satellite constellation is partially available in Europe.

Like GPS or GLONASS, Beidou navigates by measuring how long the radio signal travels from a transmitter (satellite or ground base) to a receiver (navigator or smartphone). Since the speed of propagation of radio waves is fixed (it is equal to the speed of light), knowing the coordinates of at least 3 signal sources and the travel time of these signals, Beidou determines the location of the smartphone. Positioning accuracy is ideally less than 1 meter.

In fact, the operation of the navigation system is quite complex, but for small minds like mine, the American guy in the video below explains the principle quite clearly.

But back to Beidou.

Does Beidou work in Europe

Since Beidou's coverage is not yet global in scale, the question arises whether this system works on the European continent. The answer is only partially positive. In 2015, the Chinese opened the first EU ground station located in Belgium. Thanks to it, the use of Beidou navigation becomes conditionally possible. However, taking into account the fact that one base station is not enough, and satellites in medium-earth orbit are not over Europe around the clock, this may not be enough for high-precision positioning.

Despite the limited functionality, there is a sense from Beidou. On the territory of the European part of Russia, as well as in Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries, the signal from 2-3 Chinese satellites can be observed almost constantly.

Which smartphones is BeiDou supported and how to use it

Due to the general principles of operation of all satellite navigation systems, manufacturers of client equipment (receivers) can theoretically provide their simultaneous support. In practice, everyone (like Qualcomm) often does this, but the presence of hardware support does not always mean software support.

Chinese manufacturers usually include it in smartphones, along with GPS and GLONASS (except for devices whose chipset is physically unable to receive BDS signals). But other companies can differentiate smartphones by market. For example, the device for China only supports GPS and Beidou, and the version for the post-Soviet market supports GPS and GLONASS. You can check if your smartphone works with Chinese satellites in the AndroiTS GPS Test program by selecting the tab with a list of satellites. The satellite's belonging to the system is indicated by the flag of its country, respectively, the red ones are Beidou.

If the smartphone supports Beidou, you do not need to take any additional steps to use it. It is enough to turn on navigation and run the corresponding program. If necessary, Chinese satellites will be used to improve positioning accuracy and speed, in parallel with American and Russian ones.

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BEIDOU - North Bucket - the Chinese name for the constellation Ursa Major) is the Chinese national satellite navigation system.

The BEIDOU system will provide two types of global and two types of regional services. Global services are open and authorized services. Regional services are a wide area differential correction service and a short message service.

Beidou satellite constellation

The Beidou-3M / G / I satellites represent the orbital segment of the third phase of the deployment of China's Beidou navigation system, using satellites in the middle Earth orbit and inclined geosynchronous orbits.

The global availability of this system is planned for 2020, when all satellites will be launched. The program is managed by the China Satellite Navigation Control Center.

The concept of a system using two geostationary spacecraft (the working name of the Twinsat system) was experimentally tested in 1989. The experiment was carried out on the basis of two DFH-2 / 2A communication satellites already in orbit. In 1993, Beidou was approved as a program to provide China with independent access to regional and global navigation, no longer relying on foreign systems such as the US GPS and the Russian Glonass system.

The first generation of experimental satellites Beidou, launched in 2000 (Beidou-1A and 1B) and 2003 (Beidou 1C), were based on the DFH-3 geostationary communication platform. In 2004, the Beidou regional navigation system was launched with an accuracy of 20 meters.

Another satellite, Beidou-1, was launched into geostationary orbit in 2007 to ensure that the gap between the experimental and operational Beidou systems was bridged.

During the upgrade from experimental to Beidou operating system, China plans to launch a total of 35 satellites - 5 in geostationary orbit, 27 in medium orbit and 3 in inclined geosynchronous orbits.

CAST has developed three different satellites:

1. Beidou-3M for medium orbit operation (27 satellites),
2. Beidou-3I in inclined geosynchronous orbits (3 satellites),
3. Beidou-3G Satellites - geostationary orbits (5 satellites).

Beidou will provide two types of services:

• a free service that is open to everyone with a compatible terminal;
• limited service for military and other purposes.

Free service will provide 10 meter position accuracy, 0.2 m / s speed measurement and 10 nanosecond timing accuracy.

The limited service will have a tracking accuracy of 10 centimeters and will include signaling data to provide system status information to users.

Beidou-2

In 2010 and 2011, five Beidou-2I satellites were launched on powerful Long March 3A rockets to deploy satellites in inclined geosynchronous orbits (55 °) covering China and the surrounding area. By the end of 2011, the Beidou-2 system entered service for operators in China and the surrounding area with an initial accuracy of 25 meters, which should have improved as more satellites were launched.

Geostationary Beidou-3G satellites are based on the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) DFH-3B satellite platform, using components from the flight proven DFH-3 platform and expanding its capabilities with improved payloads and reduced overall platform weight.

The DFH-3B platform has a hexagonal shape measuring 2.2 x 2.0 x 3.1 meters with a mass of 3800+ kilograms. The Beidou satellites have a projected mass of about 4,600 kilograms with two three-segment solar panels that generate 6,800 watts of electricity. The satellite uses modern navigation systems, including star and earth sensors, and attitude control drives, which provide excellent stabilization on all three axes.

The accuracy of the station in geostationary orbit is +/- 0.05 degrees.

The Beidou RNSS operates like the European Galileo and American GPS, also using similar frequency bands. The Rubidium Atomic Clock provides the accurate timing solutions needed to calculate the time delay from the moment the signal is sent to the arrival at the receiver, which in turn calculates the distance to the satellite. In order for the receiver to calculate the exact position, three simultaneous distance measurements are required to three different satellites.

The spacecraft of the Beidou-2 system, which is in operation, transmit B1 and B2 signals, which allows the provision of free open services in the Asia-Pacific region. It is assumed that navigation radio signals will be emitted in three frequency bands B1, B2 and B3, located in the same L-band regions as the signals of other GNSS.

After the launch of a new-generation spacecraft in 2015, the Beidou program management announced a change in the structure of the B1 navigation signal:

1. center frequency offset from 1561.098 MHz to 1575.42 MHz (as in the civil GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals) and
2. changing QPSK modulation to MBOC (similar to modulation of the future GPS L1C and Galileo E1 signal).

This is aimed at ensuring the interoperability of the Beidou system with the GNSS GALILEO and GPS.

Beidou uses eight different signals on four bands from 1100 to 1600 MHz:

• B1 (carrier frequency: 1561.098 MHz / bandwidth: 4.092 MHz / modulation: QPSK),
• B1-2 (1589.742 / 4.092 / QPSK),
• B2 (1207.140 / 24 / QPSK),
• B3 (1268,520 / 24 / QPSK),
• B1-BOC (1575.42 / 16.368 / MBOC),
• B2-BOC (1207.140 / 30.69 / BOC 10.5),
• B3-BOC (1268.520 / 35.805 / BOC 15, 2.5),
• L5 (1176.450 / 24 / QPSK).

Ground control complex Beidou

It is built according to the classical centralized scheme: a network of no-demand measuring stations forms the readings of the primary measurements of the navigation parameters of the radio signals of navigation spacecraft and transmits them to the system control center, in which information is generated that is loaded on board the spacecraft by means of special earth stations.

Beidou's network of no-request metering stations is also located in China. The long-term development strategy of the system assumes the creation of a global network of stations to improve the accuracy of the navigation services of the Beidou system.

Beidou Navigation Services became available for Asia Pacific starting in December 2012.

Beidou ground terminals were used after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and have become standard equipment for Chinese border guards. To measure coordinates on a plane, at least two satellites (the accuracy increases with the third and fourth) are required, which are in contact with the user terminal and the central ground station.

The user terminal receives the signal from one satellite and transmits the signal, which is received by both satellites, which relay it to the ground station, where the user's 2D position is calculated through the time delay of the two signals, which can be processed into 3D information using a topographic map in an algorithm that gives the user's position, which is then transmitted back through encrypted satellite communications. 150 users can be served simultaneously with this type of position search.

To determine the location with reference to coordinates, various navigation systems have been developed. All these systems were developed by the military, their main goal is to ensure the aiming of weapons at a target, the use of so-called smart ammunition, the second goal of navigation systems, orientation in spatial coordinates.

Navigation systems are controlled by the military. Building and maintaining these systems in working order is very expensive, to cover some of the costs, navigation systems were open for civilian use, but any territory can be disconnected from satellites on command.

To operate the navigation system and cover the entire planet, at least 24 working satellites are required. It is possible to create a navigation system that will cover only a part of the territory (it is cheaper), this is the way India is creating a regional navigation system.

The following navigation systems are currently in operation

• GPS- operated by the US Department of Defense
• Glonass - operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense
• Beidou - operated by the Ministry of Defense of China (so far only China and surrounding regions)

The principle of operation is the same for all systems,

Under construction and debugging

• Galileo - The European navigation system is being created as an alternative to GPS for European countries, funded by the European Union and also by investors, full commercial use is planned for 2020.
• IRNSS - The Indian Regional Navigation System is intended for navigation in India and the region within a radius of 1500 km from the borders of India.
• QZSS - Japanese regional navigation system.

Use of public navigation systems

Smartphones have signal receivers from satellites, which allows you to find out your location with great accuracy.

Now phones are equipped with three main GPS systems, Glonass, Beidou.

How GPS positioning systems and analogues work

The receiver, which is in the phone, the navigator receives a signal from the satellite, the signal transmits the exact time since the atomic clock is installed on the satellite, the location of the satellite is also known, the navigator in the time spent on the signal transmission from the satellite calculates the distance to the satellite. Having received a signal from two satellites, you can calculate the coordinates, but you cannot determine the altitude, having received a signal from the third satellite, the exact location is calculated.

The more satellites a signal is received, the more accurately you can determine your location. Also, the location is refined with the operating time of the receiver, with each subsequent calculation, the error decreases.

The user is used to seeing his location on the map, this is already programmatically overlapping the coordinates of the location on the map, that is, each point on the map must be assigned spatial coordinates.

When buying a smartphone or exploring its capabilities, we come across information that this device supports Beidou or BDS.

In this regard, many become interested in what kind of system we are talking about, what it is, and what new functions and capabilities it offers.

What is Beidou?

Beidou is a new navigation system developed in China. She received in honor of the constellation Ursa Major, or rather its Chinese name. Beidou was launched in 2000. This system is a direct analogue and competitor of the GPS system developed in the USA and the Russian GLONASS system. It also applies to both the military and ordinary civilian users.

Title and relevance

To draw conclusions about the relevance of Beidou to smartphone owners outside of China, it is necessary to know about the coverage area of \u200b\u200bthe technology, as well as the number of satellites and ground base stations that provide navigation support.

Currently, Beidou is operating in limited functionality mode, as stable satellite signal reception has been achieved only over China. Over the rest of the land, the signal is less stable due to the lack of orbiting devices. Chinese developers promise full coverage of the entire globe by 2020. Over the European part of Russia, as well as over eastern Europe, at the beginning of 2017, a stable signal from six satellites was seen, and one base station was successfully built and launched in Belgium.

Undoubtedly, the creation by China of its own navigation system gives this country a number of advantages in both foreign policy and general civil spheres. The plans of this country to significantly increase the number of operating satellites, and the number of them will significantly exceed the existing GLONASS and GPS satellites.

Beidou in smartphones

But let's leave aside the arguments about the military sphere and world domination, let's talk about ordinary smartphone owners. It is obvious that Chinese citizens will have access to the most stable navigation system in the near future. Due to the large number of satellites, access to geodata must be open even in difficult conditions, for example, in tunnels.

What steps are smartphone manufacturers taking in this direction? Most of the Chinese brands provide parallel operation of Beidou, GPS and GLONASS. Other firms divide gadgets according to the market to which they will be supplied.

The smartphone's ability to use the Beidou system is encouraged, but not required. Of course, it's nice to have an additional navigation system in stock, but at the moment it is unlikely to be useful to users outside of China.