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At 09:14 on September 19, 2024, my country successfully launched another Beidou satellite at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, bringing the number of Beidou navigation satellites in orbit to 64 (including 4 test satellites).
Across the vast starry sky, the brilliant Big Dipper shines with the “power of Nanjing”.
Beidou satellites use customized lead screws and guide rails manufactured by Nanjing Technology Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; the millimeter-wave phased array chip developed by Zijinshan Laboratory is a key core component for broadband satellite communications; nearly 300 satellite navigation companies have formed a full coverage of Beidou navigation chips, components, modules, antenna components, terminal equipment, software development, location operation services and other sectors…
Relying on industrial and talent resources, in recent years, a number of scientific and technological explorations enabled by “Beidou+” are being accelerated in Nanjing.
In 2020, Wuhan University and the People’s Government of Liuhe District, Nanjing jointly funded the construction of Nanjing Beidou Innovation and Application Technology Research Institute. The institute brings together multidisciplinary talent teams and scientific research results such as the National Key Laboratory of Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing Information Engineering and the National Satellite Positioning System Engineering Technology Research Center, and introduces scientific and technological innovation resources from Wuhan University and multiple parties, focusing on the deep integration of Beidou social applications and traditional industries, and promoting the transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements.
In 2021, Sinopec will deploy its Beidou Operation Service Center in Nanjing. As a space-time location service center, the center relies on the Beidou system to provide Sinopec’s entire upstream, midstream and downstream industrial chain with all-weather, all-day high-precision positioning, navigation, timing and short message communication services.
The “Beidou Smart Travel” shared electric motorcycles deployed in Liuhe District, Nanjing, use the country’s first industry-wide full-process application of Beidou RTK positioning technology, with positioning accuracy up to centimeter level. Relying on “Beidou + 5G + high-precision maps”, the project is expected to provide a more scientific and comprehensive solution to the three major difficulties of “parking, driving, and management” in the shared electric motorcycle industry.
As early as 2010, Nanjing started to formulate the Beidou satellite industry plan, and the satellite navigation industry has developed in recent years. At present, the city’s Beidou industry covers the entire industry chain of Beidou navigation chips, components, modules, antenna components, terminal equipment, software development, location operation services, etc., and has gathered key Beidou application-related enterprises such as Jiangsu Beidou Research Institute, Xingyu Xinlian, Duolun Technology, and Zhongtian Anchi. In terms of spatial layout, a Beidou industrial park with “one core and three areas” represented by Jiangbei New District, Jiangning District, Yuhuatai District, and Gulou District has been formed.
02 New scenarios connect a wider world for “+Beidou”
Zhu Jiubao, head of the Jiuming Agricultural Machinery Service Professional Cooperative in Liuhe District, said: “With the help of Beidou, agricultural machinery has learned to be unmanned, and now it is much more convenient to work.”
In the fields, Zhu Jiubao only needs to open Beidou Agricultural Machinery Manager on his mobile phone. After pressing the ignition and start buttons, the agricultural machinery will operate according to the path planned by the platform, and the average trajectory tracking error is within 2.5 cm. Since 2018, Jiuming Cooperative has begun to install Beidou system on tractors, harvesters, rice transplanters and other agricultural machinery. Currently, more than 40 existing agricultural machinery have been installed. Not only more accurate navigation, the addition of Beidou system has enabled the base to achieve an average reduction of 20% in pesticide use and more than 10% in fat per mu while maintaining production.On the digital management platform for agricultural social services in Liuhe District, more than 1,000 tractors, rice transplanters, plant protection machines, and combine harvesters equipped with Beidou agricultural machinery operation intelligent terminals are drawing a blueprint for a good harvest. In addition, the platform has also expanded functions such as online publishing of needs and undertaking business, building a bridge for communication between production entities, agricultural machinery operators, and service entities, and to some extent alleviating the situation of “agricultural machinery operators cannot find farm work” and “farm work cannot find agricultural machinery.”Starting from Nanjing, Jiangsu Beidou Agricultural Machinery has now expanded to more than 20 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, serving more than 200,000 sets of agricultural machinery and equipment, and supervising the cumulative operation area of billions of acres. In the sales volume of intelligent monitoring terminals for agricultural machinery operations in 2023 released by the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association, Jiangsu Beidou ranked first.In August this year, the eVTOL electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, known as the “air taxi”, achieved its first cross-river flight in Nanjing. The aircraft took off from the Nanjing UAV Base in Pukou District, flew over the Yangtze River, circled along the river and returned to the base. The 25-kilometer flight took only 10 minutes. Not only across the river, but also inter-city travel in the Nanjing metropolitan area will open up short shuttle routes “Lukou-Lianyang” and “Lukou – Yangzhou”. By helicopter connection, it takes 23 minutes to reach Liyang and 37 minutes to reach Yangzhou from Lukou Airport, saving more than double the time.With more air routes, service guarantee is particularly important. Recently, the “Kite Line UAV Management System” independently developed by Nanjing Dayi Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. was launched on the Nanjing Data Trading Platform. This is the province’s first low-altitude economic data product. As of August, nearly 3,000 units have been connected. The platform integrates the Internet of Things, the Internet and Beidou satellite data information, and can support the coordinated planning and command and dispatch of UAV missions.
03 Large-scale application pilot, where and how to use it?
The Notice on the Announcement of the List of Pilot Cities for Beidou Large-Scale Application in the Field of Industry and Information Technology issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the main directions of the national Beidou large-scale application pilot are mass consumption, industrial manufacturing and integrated innovation. In view of the actual development of Nanjing, the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology stated that in the future, it will focus on the low-altitude economy, shared travel, intelligent networked vehicles, smart grids, industrial Internet, advanced communications and other sub-directions, and strive to improve the level of Beidou large-scale application in the city.Among them, low-altitude economy, shared travel, intelligent connected vehicles, industrial Internet, advanced communications, etc. are closely related to the strategic emerging industries and future industries that Nanjing is focusing on, and smart grid is one of the most representative national industrial clusters in Nanjing. It can be seen that the large-scale application of Beidou in Nanjing in the future will be highly consistent with the city’s industrial system.At present, Nanjing’s continuously operating satellite positioning service system has provided centimeter-level high-precision location services to more than 100 units and more than 10,000 users in the city, saving enterprises more than 100 million yuan in costs. Jiangsu Beidou Satellite Navigation Testing Center has established testing system development and application technology service capabilities covering satellite navigation, communication technology, electromagnetic compatibility and other fields. The service field runs through the upstream, midstream and downstream product chain of satellite navigation, and the service industry covers transportation, agriculture, marine fisheries, customs, drones and other fields. The Smart Nanjing Space-Time Big Data Platform has served more than 160 application systems of nearly 50 administrative units, with a total service visit volume of 3.4 billion times throughout the year.
