From 5th to 9th August, 2024, the National Time Service Center (NTSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) and The United Nations African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education - English (UN-ARCSSTE-E) jointly organized the International BeiDou/GNSS Training Workshop in Obafemi Awolowo University Campus, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, which established BeiDou’s closer technical exchange and communication with African countries in satellite navigation field.

This workshop is in the framework of the activities of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. The workshop was also supported by the African Regional Institute for Geospatial Information Science and Technology (AFRIGIST). 88 participants from Nigeria, India, Egypt, Cameroon, Kenya, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana joined the workshop in a hybrid format.

Two experts from NTSC organized the workshop in Nigeria, delivering lessons and interacting with participants face to face. “The participants are very interested in satellite navigation theories and applications, and they are very active in the Q&A section. I also heard they want to study in China, which I believe is a very good choice,” said ZHENG Haotian. This is the fifth time for the assistant researcher to organize such kind of workshop.

JIANG Zhen, engineer of NTSC, who also taught Ancient Chinese Navigation Technologies for the workshop, expressed “The reason why we made this lesson involved in the curriculum is we want the participants to know more about China and ancient Chinese wisdom in navigation. And I found they are much more focused during the lesson, which makes me feel proud.”

Apart from the experts from NTSC, 14 China’s research institutes engaging in satellite navigation technology systematically taught Basic GNSS principles, GNSS augmentation and its applications, and GNSS related technologies lessons.

This visit is expected to promote NTSC’s cooperation with UN-ARCSSTE-E in satellite navigation and its applications.

Group Photo of Participants(Imaged by NTSC)

Bilateral Exchange with Director of UN ARCSSTE-E(Imaged by NTSC)

Bilateral Exchange in AFRIGIST(Imaged by NTSC)