A demonstration project was launched on Friday in the Yangtze River Delta for China's Beidou satellite navigation system, which will provide precise navigation, positioning and time services to the nation's richest region, sources said.

The system had a successful trial in southern China's Pearl River Delta last year.

The Shanghai government-led pilot plan is expected to deploy the Beidou system, China's version of the global positioning system, for various daily uses, including supervision of key vehicles, monitoring the elderly and children and high-precision positioning.

The trial plan, with a construction period of 18 months and investment of 190 million yuan ($31 million), has three parts.

A Beidou-based location service infrastructure system will be built, which will support both the Beidou terrestrial-strengthening network and a Wi-Fi network.

In addition, 50,000 Beidou terminals will be supplied for daily activities.

A technological platform of a creative base, a key laboratory and a product detection and certification center will also be set up within the project, according to Chen Mingbo, deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai.

"Shanghai, together with the Yangtze River Delta region, is the nation's most developed area with talent, capital and technology.

"The demonstration project will not only help Shanghai's future development, but also lead to the broad application of the Beidou satellite navigation system," Ran Chengqi, director and spokesman of the China Satellite Navigation Office, told a work conference in Shanghai.

The 190-million-yuan investment will just be a start, and the aim is to stimulate the deployment of the Beidou navigation system nationwide and even into neighboring countries, said Ran.

"By meeting the nation's economic development and industrial development needs, Shanghai's trial will be key to the system's use beyond China, and it will show China as a responsible country," Ran noted.

The Qingpu district will be responsible for the application that monitors older people and children, and at least 12,000 Beidou terminals will be put into use by the end of this year, said Zhang Hongzhou, director of Qingpu district's science and technology commission.

By embedding Beidou navigation system chips in mobile phones, watches, school badges and other devices, these facilities will help send alarms and lead to the rescue of children or the elderly during emergencies by providing positioning information about the chip carrier, according to Zhang.

Apart from that, Zhang said they are also trying to develop special apps for the Beidou navigation system.

"The system should be more than a life support; it should also make life more interesting," he added

"Regarding the long history and broad application of GPS globally, it will take a long time for Beidou's own development, but the two systems are compatible rather than rivals," said Yu Wenxian, a professor with Shanghai Jiaotong University.

The key is to make the system stable, with as many services as possible, added Yu.

Ran noted that the Yangtze River Delta region demonstration project comes after the Pearl River Delta one, which was launched last year in May.

The two regions are extremely important, and the Yangtze River Delta will be a good example in the civilian application of the Beidou navigation system nationwide, said Ran.

The Beidou navigation satellite system is a global satellite positioning and communication system developed independently by China.

The system began offering services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. It plans to expand its customer base globally by 2020.

Source: Xinhua News Agency