COMPASS navigation system

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The COMPASS system (also known as Beidou-2) is a project by China to develop an independent satellite navigation system. The current Beidou-1 system (made up of 4 satellites) is experimental and has limited coverage and application. However, with the COMPASS system, China plans to develop a truly global satellite navigation system consisting of 35 satellites.

The new system will be a constellation of 35 satellites, which include 5 geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites and 30 medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites, that will offer complete coverage of the globe. There will be two levels of service provided; free service for those in China, and licensed service for the military.

The free service will have a 10 meter location-tracking accuracy, will synchronize clocks with an accuracy of 50 ns, and measure speeds within 0.2 m/s.
The licensed service will be more accurate than the free service, can be used for communication, and will supply information about the system status to the users.

Two satellites for COMPASS were launched in early 2007. In the next few years, China plans to continue experimentation and system setup operations.

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Galileo med flera, p.6

v • d • e Satellite navigation systems
Historical	Image:Flag of the United States.svg Transit
Operational	Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg / Image:Flag of Russia.svg GLONASS · Image:Flag of the United States.svg GPS · Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Beidou
Developmental	Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg COMPASS · Image:Flag of Europe.svg Galileo · Image:Flag of India.svg IRNSS · Image:Flag of Japan.svg QZSS
Related topics	EGNOS · GAGAN · GPS·C · LAAS · MSAS · WAAS

v • d • e Time signal stations
Longwave	DCF77 · HBG · JJY · MSF · TDF · WWVB
Shortwave	BPM · CHU · RWM · WWV · WWVH · YVTO
GNSS time transfer	Beidou · Galileo · GLONASS · GPS · IRNSS
Defunct time stations	OMA · VNG