BEIJING: China’s homegrown satellite internet system has completed tests aboard an icebreaker sailing in Arctic waters, demonstrating its ability to provide reliable communications in some of the world’s harshest environments, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
The tests aboard the research vessel Jidi , which is taking part in China’s 16th Arctic Ocean expedition, marked the first successful demonstration of connectivity linking Earth’s three polar regions — the Arctic, Antarctica and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as Earth’s “Third Pole”, according to the report.
During the tests, the ship established video and voice connections with Qinling Station in Antarctica, a test site along the Lhasa River in the Xizang autonomous region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and a facility operated by the Ministry of Natural Resources’ North Sea Bureau. The calls were clear and smooth, demonstrating the system’s ability to maintain communications across regions with vastly different climates and terrain.
The system, known as the GW constellation, uses a network of domestically built satellites to provide internet access in areas where traditional communications infrastructure is difficult to establish.
The latest tests demonstrated the system’s ability to support a range of practical tasks throughout a voyage. Zhang Meng, a member of the expedition team and a project tester with the North Sea Bureau’s support center, told Xinhua that the Jidi had sent and received more than 300 files totaling over 100 gigabytes and supported more than 40 video conferences during the voyage.
The tests also covered large file transfers, communications between the ship and shore, data transmission from survey equipment using domestic technology and continuous online operation of forecasting platforms, Zhang said.
The results showed that the system could remain stable in extreme cold, at high altitudes and amid strong winds, blowing sand and ice fog, according to the report.
Reliable communications are particularly important for polar expeditions, where researchers must transmit large volumes of scientific data, share observations and coordinate operations despite vast distances and severe weather.
Satellite internet can help overcome the limitations of conventional networks in these remote areas.
China’s polar research missions have traditionally relied on foreign commercial satellite services for some communications. The latest tests could help reduce that reliance and provide practical evidence that a domestically developed system can support communications throughout an entire expedition.
Earlier this month, the GW system also enabled a video call linking three Chinese polar expedition vessels — Xuelong , Jidi and Tansuo 3 — operating in the Arctic with Qinling Station in Antarctica. The demonstration showed that the system could connect users across the two polar regions.
The successful tests could support wider use of domestic satellite communications in maritime emergency response, ocean monitoring and other operations in remote areas, while providing experience for the development of future integrated communications networks, according to the report. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
