China's civil aircraft, of which there are roughly 3,800, will all be equipped with BeiDou equipment by 2024, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said Wednesday.
An A321 airliner equipped with BeiDou equipment developed by CASC's Aerospace Stellar Navigation Division landed at Beijing Capital International Airport recently.
The measured data showed that the data reporting success rate within one minute of the voyage reached more than 97 percent, meeting international requirements for civil aircraft tracking capabilities, CASC said.
CASC said the development of the BeiDou airborne device was inspired by the 2014 MH370 loss and the purpose was to get rid of the limitations of Chinese civil aviation aircraft by foreign companies in terms of avionics systems.
The Chinese civil aviation system completed the installation of a fleet-wide aircraft communication addressing and reporting system in 2016, enabling the monitoring of civil aircraft. However, the aircraft communication addressing and reporting system is independently operated by a foreign company, CASC said.
Meng Bin, project leader of Aisino's Navigation Division, said the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System has realized an integrated design of communication and guidance, and the BeiDou airborne equipment can realize SMS reporting of aircraft position.
In addition, BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System has a hybrid satellite constellation of medium circular earth orbit, geostationary orbit and inclined geosynchronous orbit, which is more applicable than GPS, Meng said, adding that this can meet the demand for positioning and short messages in complex situations, further enhancing the monitoring capability of civil aircraft.
Most importantly, he added, the BeiDou airborne equipment could make China's civil aviation airborne equipment fully autonomous and controllable.
China's BeiDou industry expected to reach RMB 1 trillion by 2025