BeiDou Services

COMPASS
Title	BeiDou Services
Author(s)	GMV.
Level	Basic
Year of Publication	2011

The Compass Navigation Satellite System (CNSS), also named BeiDou-2, is China’s second-generation satellite navigation system capable of providing positioning, navigation, and timing services to users on a continuous worldwide basis.

On November 2, 2006, China announced the 2nd generation Chinese navigation system, COMPASS. The system is currently under development evolving from a regional system called BeiDou-1, and in the first phase will provide high-accuracy positioning services for users in China and its neighbouring regions. As of April 2011, eight satellites for Compass have been launched. According to an official report, " the eighth Beidou/Compass satellite marks the completion of basic function of Beidou (Compass) Navigation Satellite System " .

The long-term goal is to develop an independent global navigation satellite system similar to the GPS and GLONASS.

History

According to the China National Space Administration, the development of the Chinese global navigation system should be carried out in three steps:

COMPASS Logo

• 2000 - 2003: experimental BeiDou navigation system consisting of 3 satellites;
• by 2012: regional BeiDou navigation system covering China and neighboring regions;
• by 2020: global BeiDou navigation system, or Compass Navigation system.

In May 2003, the successful launch of BeiDou-1C also meant the establishment of the BeiDou-1 navigation system. On November 2, 2006, China announced that from 2008 BeiDou would offer an open service with an accuracy of 10 meters, timing of 0.2 nanoseconds, speed of 0.2 meter/second. It followed that in February 2007, the last satellite of BeiDou-1 system, BeiDou-1D, was put into orbit, and after suffering from a control system malfunction, it was fully restored by the end of 2007 . At this step, the BeiDou-1 regional system was completed, providing an "open" level of service, with 10-metre accuracy, in addition to its encrypted military service. The completion of the global system COMPASS is on-going, offering also an open service and an "authorized" service.

COMPASS Services

The COMPASS system will provide two types of services:

• Open service: a free service for civilian users with positioning accuracy of within 10 metres, velocity accuracy of within 0.2 m/s and timing accuracy of within 20 nanoseconds;

• Authorized service:a licensed service with higher accuracy even in complex situations for authorised and military users only.

Initially the system will initially cover China and its neighbouring countries only, but will eventually extend into a global navigation satellite system by 2020.