China's satnav industry valued at $44 billion in 2018

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The total market value of China's satellite navigation and positioning service has reached 301.6 billion yuan (about 43.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, an 18.3 percent increase compared to 2017, according to an annual industry report.

Vertical markets related to technology R&D and application including chip, algorithm, software, data, end devices, supporting infrastructure account for 35.44 percent, with a market value of 106.9 billion yuan (24.58 billion U.S. dollars), the report said.

Among those relevant industries, 80 percent contribution rate comes from the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

By the end of 2018, the overall patent applications in China exceeded 60,000, ranking first in the world, the report said.

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New round of rapid development in the BDS market

Applied in transportation, maritime affairs, electricity, civil affairs, meteorology, fishery, surveying and mapping, mining and public security, BDS, along with the derivative devices has offered services to thousands of millions of people, with the shipment of end products reaching over 80 million sets.

The total number of final products, including smartphones, installed with BDS compatible chips was close to 700 million.

The report also shows with more precise location capability, technologies like cloud computing, Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles will have better performances, which, in turn, will trigger the growth momentum in the smart city, public security and other segmented markets.

BDS in the autonomous field has also seen a considerable boost in the past few years.

The world's first unmanned electric port tractor based on BDS, laser radar, millimeter wave radar and cameras came to the road in the Tianjin Port in 2018.

It can drive and park precisely, load and unload containers and avoid obstacles without an operator.

The coming of 5G technology will create another opportunity for BDS development, the report added.

A system, with BDS offering location and timing services, the 5G network responsible for data transmission service, as well as the enhanced data mining and storing capability, is expected to profit more and more industries.

[The report was published on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Location Services Industry (2019), which was released by the GNSS (global navigation satellite system) and LBS (location-based service) Association of China on Wednesday.]