The first base station with a ground-based augmentation system is completed in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which will offer high-precision positioning timing and emergency communication for the electricity industry.

Provided by the China-made Beidou Navigation Satellite System, the station's augmentation system can increase positioning precision to centimeter-level dynamically and millimeter-level statically.

The construction of the base station in Xinjiang is part of the project launched by the State Grid, which aims to build 1,200 Beidou base stations to provide high-precision positioning, timing, and emergency communication services for the electricity industry.

According to State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co Ltd, the builder of the base station in Xinjiang, there will be 128 base stations completed across the region by the end of this year, and that will make Xinjiang the place with the most base stations in China.

The company said the time accuracy of the base station's grid equipment can reach 20 nanoseconds based on the timing service supported by Beidou.

"Construction of many base stations in Xinjiang is sited in remote mountainous areas where geological disasters happen, and the services provided by the BDS, the stations will play an important role in an emergency while dispatching electric power," said Sang Yao, a manager at the company.

According to Sang, the base stations also can provide emergency communication via Beidou's short message function. "A disaster such as a landslide and debris flow can be detected faster in time and with more accuracy in the location," said Sang, adding that emergency communication will be established immediately after a disaster happens.

As a new type of information infrastructure, satellite internet has great potential in the electricity industry. After the Beidou base stations are completed, their services will be widely used in the electricity industry, including engineering, dispatching inspection, marketing, regulation and emergency response.

"The base stations base on Beidou will comprehensively improve the management level of the electricity industry and ensure the essential safety of the power grid," Sang said.

According to the company, besides benefiting the electricity industry in the region, the base stations also can provide services, including displacement detection for bullet trains and bridges, monitoring land resources and deformation of petroleum pipelines.