‘Lighthouses in space’: the Chinese jam-proof satellite network to fill GPS gaps
System places powerful light sources on satellites to send coded signals for drones, self-driving cars, space missions to navigate
While positioning systems such as GPS and BeiDou rely on satellites that beam radio waves, Tsinghua University’s new network uses coded light signals from “beacon” satellites.
Xing Fei, a professor of precision instrumentation at Tsinghua University who led the project, referenced how ancient sailors navigated by lighthouses. “What we’ve done is put those ‘lighthouses’ in space, using light-emitting satellites to guide everything from vehicles to spacecraft,” he told Beijing Youth Daily on Tuesday.
The system works by placing powerful light sources on satellites to send coded signals to Earth. Receivers on the ground detect the light and use its direction, along with the satellites’ known positions, to calculate where they are.
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Because light beams are narrow and travel in straight lines, they are much harder to interfere with than radio signals, according to Xing. Compared with star-based navigation, which relies on faint, fixed stars and offers limited accuracy, it can deliver much more precise positioning.