Technology can do people a lot of good in many ways. And recent technological breakthroughs in China's homegrown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is pushing the boundaries even more.

Positioning, monitoring and time services. The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System has extensive uses.

Scientists at the 7th China Satellite Navigation Conference said they have pushed the system a step further with smaller compressed chips featuring greater functionality.

"We have tackled ALL the core technological difficulties of the BeiDou System, yet there's no such thing as "perfect" in technology. So we'll continue our efforts, and we sincerely hope that BeiDou will be a world-class system by its completion," said Ran Chengqi, Director of China Satellite Navigation Office.

The goal of a world-class global navigation system comes after the achievement of Beidou's regional functionality in 2012. China has tapped into the BeiDou regional system already by providing services to neighboring countries and regions, including Thailand, Pakistan, UAE, the ASEAN states, and countries in the Arab League.

"We plan to launch 30 satellites during the 13th five-year plan period, and thus achieve the third-step of our goal for a global system by the end of 2020. We will first cover countries along the routes in "the Belt and Road" initiative with the first batch of 18 satellites before 2018. Those countries welcome BeiDou's application," said Ran.

To pave the way for a global system, scientists are working on enhancing BeiDou system's accuracy and stability. They also seek cooperation with BeiDou's three counterparts by making its system compatible with Russia's Glonass, and synchronizing its frequency with the EU-developed system Galileo, together with cooperation with the United States.

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