Most people are familiar with GPS, which is used for everything from personal navigation on your smartphone to tracking planes and container ships around the world.
Beidou is China's alternative system. It takes its name from the Chinese word for the constellation Big Dipper, and has taken nearly two decades to complete.
It is hoped in China that Beidou could be a global competitor to GPS, but the American option still has "absolute market share," said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert who worked with the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Development and Reform Commission. .
Experts said China's pressure for a new navigation network was also motivated by a desire to reduce its dependence on the US GPS, particularly in its military.
According to Andrew Dempster, director of the Australian Center for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales, there are few advantages to a country with its own GNSS network other than prestige.
"To be honest with Beidou, there is nothing unique," said Dempster. "It's just this prestige thing that the Chinese want to say they have. It's the same thing as going to the moon, planting a flag for fun," said Dempster.
History of GPS
The United States and Russia were the first to start building their own GNSS navigation networks at the height of the Cold War.
GPS was first offered by the United States Department of Defense in 1973, while the Russian GLONASS system began six years later in 1979. Both were declared "fully operational" in 1995.
Most systems, like GPS, work by using four satellites at a time to measure the distance it takes for a signal to reach a point on the ground - your smartphone, for example - to calculate where exactly that point is on a map.
China started to build its navigation network in 1994. Work on Galileo started much later, but the networkis expected to become fully operational by the end of 2020.
The American, Russian and now Chinese Beidou systems are partly owned or operated by the military, said Song. The Galileo network is the only purely civil GNSS system.
These four systems are made up of at least 20 satellites, according to the GPS website.
Experts have said that the scope and efficiency of today's global GNSS networks leaves little reason to build additional networks.
Suelynn Choy, Associate Professor at the RMIT School of Science Cluster in Melbourne, said that it may be useful to have an alternative if a specific GNSS network unexpectedly disconnects, as the Galileo network did in July 2019.
"From a civil point of view, it's good because we don't depend heavily on a single system ... it could cause quite a few problems for the global economy," she said.
But the other advantage is that it gives the operating country a military advantage over its competitors, said Dempster of ASCER. If an opposing army is sailing using your GNSS network, you can simply deactivate its signal.
Military benefits
Dempster said that while the debate has raged around the world in recent years on the risks associated with the use of Chinese Internet infrastructure, such as the 5G provider Huawei, the same concerns do not apply to GNSS systems.
"It transmits a signal, you have a receiver and unless there is another channel, you are not communicating with the GPS system or the Beidou system," he said.
However, there is a risk when the military uses the GNSS system of an enemy country, which the controlling government can distort or simply stop if necessary.
Writing for China Brief in 2014, former intelligence officer and analyst Kevin McCauley said that for years, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has relied mainly on GPS for its navigation.
"But the Beidou terminals now appear to be deployed to a greater extent across the PLA, while providing capabilities that were not previously available to the Chinese military," said McCauley.
Now that the system is complete, the PLA and the Chinese government can rely on their own navigation network.
Dempster said it couldbe important for Beijing, especially since tensions with the United States are increasing on several fronts.
"It would be logical for them to have their own military system because there was a conflict in the South China Sea on these islands, GPS could be refused and the US military could still use the military signal", a- he declared.
"So they would have satellite navigation and not the Chinese."
Experts said China could not only push Beidou as a potential civilian competitor to GPS. Already, a close ally of Pakistan has gained access to the Beidou network, diverting it from the American alternative. Experts said access could be offered to countries signing the Beijing Belt and Road Infrastructure initiatives.
"Regardless of the industry, a minimal error can lead to a large divergence. Beidou can guarantee perfect accuracy," said Song. "Navigation satellites are the best civil-military products [cooperation]. Their application value and their market space are enormous. "
- Shanshan Wang of CNN contributed to this article.
