NavIC: India’s homegrown navigation system

NavIC: India’s homegrown navigation system

Subject : Science & technology

Context: The Indian government is pushing smartphone makers to enable support for its NavIC navigation system in new devices sold in the country from next year, a move that has spooked the industry due to additional costs and tight time frames

Concept :

• Currently, NavIC’s use is limited. It is being used in public vehicle tracking in India, for providing emergency warning alerts to fishermen venturing into the deep sea where there is no terrestrial network connectivity, and for tracking and providing information related to natural disasters.
• Relying on systems like GPS and GLONASS may not always be reliable. NavIC is an indigenous positioning system that is under Indian control. There is no risk of the service being withdrawn or denied in a given situation.

Navigation in Indian Constellation

• Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC) is an Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• IRNSS consists of eight satellites, three satellites in geostationary orbit and five satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
• The main objective is to provide reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and its neighbourhood.
• It works just like the established and popular U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) but within a 1,500-km radius over the sub-continent.
• It has been certified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a global body for coordinating mobile telephony standards.

Global Navigations systems

• The main difference is the serviceable area covered by these systems. GPS caters to users across the globe and its satellites circle the earth twice a day, while NavIC is currently for use in India and adjacent areas.
• Like GPS, there are three more navigation systems that have global coverage – Galileo from the European Union, Russia-owned GLONASS and China’s Beidou.
• QZSS, operated by Japan, is another regional navigation system covering Asia-Oceania region, with a focus on Japan..