Killer tech combo is a real game-changer

Beidou Navigation Satellite System, 5G and IoT are set to revolutionize several industries

Global acceptance and application of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System will gather momentum on the back of further integration with telecom technologies like 5G and the internet of things, company executives and experts said.

Their comments came after Beidou started offering full-scale global services on July 31. More importantly, navigation technologies are increasingly intertwined with telecommunication technologies to enable more applications in transportation, energy, fishing, agriculture, city management and other areas.

"The era of Beidou as a global system is coming," said Miao Qianjun, former secretary-general of the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-based Services Association of China, which goes by the abbreviation GLAC and was founded in 1995 to promote commercial applications of Beidou technologies.

"Just as high-speed railways, Beidou will become another high-tech name-card for China," Miao said.

According to a GLAC report, synergy of navigation and telecommunication is an inevitable trend, with the two becoming increasingly inseparable and destined to power wider industrial applications.

"This is the most noteworthy development. Such integration has greatly broadened the application scenarios of Beidou," the report said.

Beidou is China's largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, along with the US' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

Since 2000, 59 Beidou satellites, including the first four experimental ones, have been launched, and some of them have been retired.

With China pioneering commercialization of the IoT and 5G, Beidou is expected to benefit big time. By the end of June, China had built 410,000 5G base stations, laying a foundation for local companies to experiment with new applications.

A typical combination of Beidou and 5G finds application in services of bike-sharing companies. Shanghai-based bike-sharing company Hello Global has brought its shared bikes under the Beidou umbrella. Similarly, Beijing-based Meituan has installed Beidou on its bikes.

Li Kaizhu, co-founder and executive president of Hello Global, said: "The application of the Beidou system is the first large-scale attempt in the shared travel sector. It will help shared bicycles better integrate into the urban public transportation ecology."

The Beidou network will help users to park vehicles in an orderly manner as the technology will prioritize the parking order of vehicles on municipal roads, he said.

Technicians can use the Beidou system for real-time management of road vehicle information in the background and effectively control traffic tides, ride out hot spots and deal with vehicle accumulation, said executives of bike-sharing companies.

Wang Peng, assistant professor at the Renmin University of China, who specializes in transportation, said: "The combination of 5G and Beidou solves the signal problem of shared bikes. Previously, the bikes were equipped with 3G, or even 2G networks, and the signal was poor, making it difficult for users to find a bike or make a payment online. The combination of 5G and Beidou solves the problem, offering a better user experience."

Yu Zejun, a research fellow at the research institute of China Fortune Land Development Co Ltd, said that shared bikes are among the four major application fields－A (automobile), B(bike), C (cellphone) and D (drone)－of the Beidou system. The location service offered by Beidou is a key element in shared travel.

In the future, every shared bicycle will be equipped with a Beidou positioning chip. Shared travel contains diversified scenarios, and the application prospect of Beidou system is promising, he said.

To better promote the integrated development of 5G and Beidou, China Mobile, the nation's largest telecom carrier, and Wuhan University, a prestigious Chinese university, have set up an industry alliance and a joint innovation laboratory to promote cross-industry communication and the use of precision positioning technologies in more sectors.

The industry alliance has already attracted more than 20 enterprises, including internet heavyweights such as Baidu, Tencent, as well as technology powerhouses such as Huawei.