Govt considering making NavIC mandatory:

Govt considering making NavIC mandatory:

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Context: The government has convinced Apple to adopt NavIC in some of its models and it is also planning to give incentives to manufacturers for using domestic chips that support NavIC

Uses of NavIC in India-

• It find utilisation in national projects like public vehicle safety
• Power grid synchroniztion
• Real-time train information system
• Fisherman safety
• Soon it will come with common alert protocol-based emergency warnings, time dissemination, geodetic network and Unmanned Aerial vehicles.

About NavIC-

• NavIC or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24×7.
• There are a total of eight satellites however only seven remain active.
• Three satellites in geostationary orbit and four satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
• The constellations’ first satellite (IRNSS-1A) was launched on 1st July 2013 and the eighth satellite IRNSS-1I was launched in April 2018.
• With the seventh launch of the constellation’s satellite (IRNSS-1G), IRNSS was renamed NavIC by India’s Prime Minister in 2016.
• It was recognised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a part of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS) for operation in the Indian Ocean Region in 2020.