China's BeiDou-3 satellites get new chips

A new chip for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was unveiled on Saturday by the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location Based Service (GNSS & LBS) Association of China (GLAC).

The chip supports the new generation of BeiDou-3 satellites for high-precision navigation and positioning. The positioning accuracy of the chip reaches the sub-meter level without ground-based augmentation.

The chip, developed by Shenzhen-based Allystar Technology, also has uses in unmanned driving systems, wearable devices, precision agriculture and smart logistics.

The value of the satellite navigation and LBS industry stood at 212 billion yuan (31 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, up 22.1 percent from 2015, according to the GLAC. Core output totaled 80.8 billion yuan, 70 percent of which came from BDS.

Four BeiDou-3 satellites will be launched by the end of this year, and a complete global satellite navigation system in place around 2020, according Yang Changfeng, the system's chief designer.

The scale of the BDS industry will reach 240 billion yuan around 2020, said Yang.