[7] The current service, BeiDou-3 (third-generation BeiDou), provides full global coverage for timing and navigation, along with Russia's GLONASS, the European Galileo, and the US's GPS.

[18]: 179 In 2015, fifteen years after the satellite system was launched, it was generating a turnover of $31.5 billion per annum for major companies such as China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, AutoNavi, and Norinco.

[citation needed] The original idea of a Chinese satellite navigation system was conceived by Chen Fangyun and his colleagues in the 1980s.

[24] The Gulf War in 1991 showcased how the GPS gave the US complete advantage on the battlefield and how satellite navigation systems can be used to conduct "space warfare".

[25] In 1993, China realised the risk of denied access to GPS during the Yinhe incident and including an alleged case in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, gave impetus to the creation of its own indigenous satellite navigation system which officially began in 1994.

[26] According to the China National Space Administration, in 2010, the development of the system would be carried out in three steps:[27] The first satellite, BeiDou-1A, was launched on 30 October 2000, followed by BeiDou-1B on 20 December 2000.

On 2 November 2006, China announced that from 2008 BeiDou would offer an open service with an accuracy of 10 metres, timing of 0.2 microseconds, and speed of 0.2 metres/second.

[31][32] In April 2007, the first satellite of BeiDou-2, namely Compass-M1 (to validate frequencies for the BeiDou-2 constellation) was successfully put into its working orbit.

[51][53] The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board, which offers independent guidance to the U.S. government on GPS policy, issued a summary report from its 27th meeting held on 16–17 November 2022.

[citation needed] There has also been an experimental S band broadcast called "Bs" at 2492.028 MHz,[55] following similar experiments on BeiDou-1.

[28] In 2007, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that the resolution of the BeiDou system was as high as 0.5 metre.

[66] At the China High-Tech Fair ELEXCON of November 2009 in Shenzhen, a BeiDou terminal priced at CN¥ 3,000 was presented.

The ranging signals are based on the CDMA principle and have complex structure typical of Galileo or modernized GPS.

Similar to the other global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs), there are two levels of positioning service: open (public) and restricted (military).

When all the currently planned GNSSs are deployed, users of multi-constellation receivers will benefit from a total over 100 satellites, which will significantly improve all aspects of positioning, especially availability of the signals in so-called urban canyons.

The restricted military service has a location accuracy of 10 cm,[79] can be used for communication, and will supply information about the system status to the user.

[citation needed] In 2019, the International GNSS Service started providing precise orbits of BeiDou satellites in experimental products.

The fact of overlapping could be convenient from the point of view of the receiver design, but on the other hand raises the issues of system interference, especially within E1 and E2 bands, which are allocated for Galileo's publicly regulated service.

[86][87] The knowledge of the codes allowed a group of engineers at Septentrio to build the COMPASS receiver[88] and report tracking and multipath characteristics of the "I" signals on E2 and E5B.

[90] It started providing navigation, positioning and timing data to China and the neighbouring area for free from 27 December 2011.

During this trial run, Compass offered positioning accuracy to within 25 metres and the precision improved as more satellites were launched.

[17] At this time, the system could provide positioning data between longitude 55° E to 180° E and from latitude 55° S to 55° N.[92] The new-generation BeiDou satellites support short message service.

The system will provide test-run services of positioning, navigation and time for China and the neighboring areas before the end of this year, according to the authorities".