A conference aimed at bringing about more technological breakthroughs, creative applications and industrial developments in satellite navigation has opened in Beijing. Our reporter Ning Hong brings us more.

A self-driving tractor -- the latest innovation in the development of the Chinese satellite navigation system, BeiDou.

ZHOU YIWEI SALES MANAGER, PRECISION AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT, UNISTRONG "By adopting BeiDou technology, tractors can operate in a field along not just one straight route, but other routes like a curve or a circle."

This tractor is now in mass production, helping Chinese farmers become more efficient with their agricultural production.

SHEN JUN CHIEF SCIENTIST, BEIJING UNISTRONG SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY "It has been widely used not only all across China, but it has been successfully tested in many other countries such as Tunisia, Russia, Japan, etc."

China completed its BDS-3 at the end of last year, with the aim of providing services not just for the country and region, but the whole world. Globally, it has the potential to provide position accuracy of 10 meters. In the future, it will step up further to provide services related to messaging, and search and rescue operations.

NING HONG BEIJING "These are all devices related with the BeiDou application. One of the unique features of the BeiDou system is that it could support short message communication, that this is the device. It could send messages in time of disaster when communication is disturbed. That's also why the BeiDou system is also encouraging growth in innovative areas such as telecommunications, Internet, IOTs Iota and big data."

Meanwhile, BeiDou is also building a ground-based enhancement system, which aims to improve high-precision positioning services that could provide position accuracy of mere centimeters.

Professor Deng Zhongliang has been working on indoor positioning for decades. He believes BeiDou has the potential to refine the focus even further.

DENG ZHONGLIANG PROFESSOR, BEIJING UNIVERSITY OF POSTS & TELECOMMUNICATIONS "In the time of internet of everything, from a pencil to a cup, they may all be connected. Our goal is to tell the position of IOTs as precisely as it could be."

Meanwhile, China is working with its global partners -- such as Russia and the U.S. -- on system compatibility and interoperability to ensure users can enjoy a reliable service no matter where they are.

High-precision BeiDou products are now being exported to more than one hundred countries. It's looking to further improve the Beidou system with the launch of up to eight satellites by the end of this year all in line with the goal to build a comprehensive positioning service by 2035. Ning Hong, CGTN, Beijing.