Beidou's 2nd trial held in Yangtze Delta

A demonstration project was launched on Friday in the Yangtze River Delta for China's Beidou satellite navigation system, which will provide precise navigation, positioning and time services to the nation's richest region, sources said.

The system had a successful trial in southern China's Pearl River Delta last year.

The Shanghai government-led pilot plan is expected to deploy the Beidou system, China's version of the global positioning system, for various daily uses, including supervision of key vehicles, monitoring the elderly and children and high-precision positioning.

The trial plan, with a construction period of 18 months and investment of 190 million yuan ($31 million), has three parts.

A Beidou-based location service infrastructure system will be built, which will support both the Beidou terrestrial-strengthening network and a Wi-Fi network.

In addition, 50,000 Beidou terminals will be supplied for daily activities.

A technological platform of a creative base, a key laboratory and a product detection and certification center will also be set up within the project, according to Chen Mingbo, deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai.

"Shanghai, together with the Yangtze River Delta region, is the nation's most developed area with talent, capital and technology.

"The demonstration project will not only help Shanghai's future development, but also lead to the broad application of the Beidou satellite navigation system," Ran Chengqi, director and spokesman of the China Satellite Navigation Office, told a work conference in Shanghai.

The 190-million-yuan investment will just be a start, and the aim is to stimulate the deployment of the Beidou navigation system nationwide and even into neighboring countries, said Ran.

"By meeting the nation's economic development and industrial development needs, Shanghai's trial will be key to the system's use beyond China, and it will show China as a responsible country," Ran noted.