CRI听力:China Speeds up Commercial Use of Beidou

Three more satellites are due to be sent into space later this year.

This is expected to bring the Beidou system up to 16 satellites, which is expected to cover the majority of the Asia-Pacific region.

However, overall coverage remains a significant issue for not only China's Beidou system, but with the United States' GPS system as well.

Chief Engineer Lu Jun is with Hwa Create, a high-tech company focusing on the industrialization of Beidou.

"There are not enough satellites for the GPS system. GPS world positioning service can only meet the basic needs."

A minimum of four satellites are needed to pinpoint a position on earth.

However, in some dense areas with lots of high-rises, GPS signals can be blocked.

As such, more satellites are needed for better positioning accuracy.

Lu Jun's company has created a dual-system chip that can receive signals from both the GPS and Beidou systems at the same time.

He says their system increases the accuracy of positioning and navigating to within a few meters.

The dual-system module has already been installed in government vehicles in Guangzhou so the authorities can keep track of them to ensure government officials aren't using the vehicles for personal use.

Dr. Liu Jingnan specializes in the applications of satellite navigation systems.

"In the last six months, government vehicles have been monitored. That has reduced their illegal use for private purposes. As a result, one hundred million yuan worth of government budget has been saved."

Dr. Liu says he expects to see Hwa Create's dual-system chips installed in smart phones and tablet computers in the not-too-distant future.

"The dual-system chips are very power-consuming, so we need to develop power-saving versions of such chips before we can build them into cell phones and other devices."

The first tablet computer with chip is expected to hit the market before the end of this year.

On top of positioning, China's Beidou system also supports sending and receiving short messages via satellite.

This allows Chinese fishing boats in the South China Sea to communicate with those on shore.

In addition, China is working with the service providers of the world's other navigation systems, namely the US GPS, Russia's Glonass, and the European Galileo, to make the networks compatible and interoperable.

It's expected the Beidou system will have global coverage by 2020.

For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.