The digital landscape is evolving due to the rapid changes occurring in the world. Technology has come a long way, and thus seeing the need for technology many country’s government have supported the technical needs of the companies, which paved a way for many indigenously made technologies to emerge.
Understanding all these needs our beloved Prime Minister Narendra Modi too launched a programme called digital india, which is not just digitalising payments or banking instead it was a mission to upgrade overall technology system. During this, one system that was developed was our own Navigation system called NaVic.
NaVIC, which stands for Navigation with Indian Constellation, is India’s own satellite navigation system, like the GPS, which is of the US. The system had seven satellites positioned above India. These satellites form ‘Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System’ or IRNSS. Since 2018, NaVIC has been in operation.
The system was developed partly because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 when the United States denied an Indian request for Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the Kargil region, which would have provided vital information.
NavIC is better than GPS in some aspects. While GPS can get you within 20 metres of your target, NaVIC is more accurate and can get you even closer—within 5 metres. For individual users, this might not be a big deal, but for military equipment like guided missiles, it is crucial. However, unlike GPS, which can be used anywhere in the world, NaVIC is regional and can only be used within India and up to 1,500 km from its borders.
The reason NaVIC is more accurate than GPS is a little bit technical, but it basically comes down to the fact that NaVIC uses two frequencies instead of one. The system has a higher uptime than GPS. NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navic constellation that will be launched by ISRO. The system was developed looking at the growing requirements of the Civil Aviation. The system is used in terrestrial, aerial, and marine transportation.
The satellite system was first announced in 2007 and meant to be fully functional by 2012 but it did not happen due to various constraints. NavIC will provide two levels of service, the “standard positioning service”, which will be open for civilian use, and a “restricted service” (an encrypted one) for authorised users (including the military). NavIC-based trackers are compulsory on commercial vehicles in India and some consumer mobile phones with support for it have been available since the first half of 2020.
There are plans to expand the NavIC system by increasing its constellation size from 7 to 11. In 2020, Qualcomm launched four Snapdragon 4G chipsets and one 5G chipset with support for NavIC.