China launches experimental satellites to improve BeiDou network’s accuracy
- The new satellites will be designed to test technology that will allow the network to offer more precise positioning around the globe
- The applications could also help improve the technology used in driverless cars or in agricultural drones
The CentiSpace-1 S5 and S6 satellites are designed to test technology that will pave the way for a constellation of 160 satellites, known as the BeiDou Low Earth Orbit Navigation Augmentation System.
The technology is designed to improve the accuracy of the system, which operates in a similar way to the American GPS, and improve its coverage all around the globe.
This will help support a wide range of applications from autonomous driving to agriculture, for example by allowing drones to be used to spray crops.
Systems such as BeiDou are not accurate enough by themselves to do things such as help land an aeroplane, so ground-based devices have been used to correct the navigation signals and improve their accuracy from a few metres to a few centimetres, according to a scientist with the China Satellite Navigation Office in Beijing.
However, ground-based augmentation relied on a dense network of reference stations and communication lines, which became impossible on the sea or in near-Earth space, the scientist, who asked not to be named, said.