China To Have Global Satellite Navigation System By 2015
Beijing (XNA) Jan 20, 2009 China plans to complete its independent global satellite navigation system by launching about 30 more orbiters before 2015, a space technology official said Sunday. China plans to send 10 navigation satellites into the space in 2009 and 2010, said Zhang Xiaojin, director of astronautics department with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) told China Central Television (CCTV). The plan is to establish a global navigation system consisting of more than 30 satellites by the year of 2015. The system will shake off the dependence on foreign systems, Zhang said. The US built GPS system has been widely used for commercial navigation in vehicles, cell phones and other civilian devices in China. Chinese civilian and military users could be guided by their own satellites worldwide after the Beidou becomes the world's fourth edition of global navigation systems. China launched the first satellite, Beidou Navigation System, into geostationary orbit in Oct. 2000, in an effort to build up its own positioning system independent from the U.S.'s Global Positioning System (GPS), E.U.'s Galileo Positioning System and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). China has sent five positioning orbiters into the space. The current Beidou system only provides regional navigation service within China's territory. Since Beidou's fifth orbiter launched in April 2007, China has started to upgrade the navigation system to the second generation, code named COMPASS.
Source: Xinhua News Agency Related Links China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) GPS Applications, Technology and Suppliers
Alternative Positioning Technologies Will Provide 25% Of All Positioning Solutions By 2014 London, UK (SPX) Jan 19, 2009 Many next-generation LBS applications such as social networking, local search, advertising, and geo-tagging are expected to be used in urban and indoor environments where GPS either underperforms in terms of fix times or accuracy, or fails altogether. So alternative positioning technologies such as Wi-Fi and Cell-ID will become increasingly important. |
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