Navigation security

Alternative GPS Version Underway

A new global navigation satellite system will soon join the US Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS, and the European Union’s Galileo. China is developing an alternative GPS network, increasing the pace of its decoupling from U.S. technologies. China’s breakthrough Beidou network of satellites will relieve Beijing of a political concern that the US could cut off China’s access in the face of developing geopolitical tensions. 

China’s network of 35 satellites will exceed the U.S. system that’s currently in place. The technology launched in 2000 will be completed by the first half of 2020, and already has a potentially massive user base as more than 70% of Chinese smartphones are now ready to use its positioning services, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review.

The Beidou network is integral to China’s long-term plans to dominate the next generation of telecommunications services and — coupled with China’s advances in fifth-generation wireless communications technology — represents a significant challenge to the U.S. hegemony over telecommunications infrastructure, according to techcrunch.com.