Introduction

we all know what a GPS is , yes obviously we use it  for navigation , owned by USA gov , firstly used by  military and extended to the civilian but that is not the topic we are discussing about , today’s we will be discussing about India’s indigenous navigation system NAVIC

Every indian should be proud what isro has made, let’s have short on  back story, at the time of Kargil, India did not have a navigation system, but they asked to  “U.S” to send the photo of kargil  but they refused to give, from that isro decided to make there own satellite which named as “NAVIC” Kailasavadivoo Sivan, space scientist and chairperson of ISRO, said “We are extremely happy to know about the 3GPP approval of NaVIC is fully operational and is doing a great job. India is the 4th country to make their own satellite in the whole world.

Full form of NAVIC is  Navigation with Indian Constellation  is an Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)

System

The (NAVIC SYSTEM)  IRNSS system  comprises a space segment and a support ground segment.

Space segment

The constellation consists of 7 satellites.Three of the seven satellites are located in geostationary orbit and Remaining four satellites are in inclined geosynchronous orbit.

Ground segment

Ground Segment is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the IRNSS constellation. The Ground segment comprises:

• IRNSS Spacecraft Control Facility (IRSCF)
• ISRO Navigation Centre (INC)
• IRNSS Range and Integrity Monitoring Stations (IRIMS)
• IRNSS Network Timing Centre (IRNWT)
• IRNSS CDMA Ranging Stations (IRCDR)
• Laser Ranging Stations
• IRNSS Data Communication Network (IRDCN)

NAVIC on Smartphones

NAVIC support is on upcoming Smartphones, Automotive, IoT platform is poised to deliver superior location-based services in India’s industries & Ecosystem through Qualcomm

Processor which support NAVIC

Right now Qualcomm Snapdragon supports the NAVIC system, chipset like Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460. India’s first smartphone ISRO’s NavIC navigation support is already available for customers. Realme CEO Madhav Sheth has confirmed the company’s newly launched ‘Realme X50 Pro 5G’ comes with its  support.

NAVIC coverage and Uses

Coverage

In India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between the primary service area and an area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30° South to 50° North, Longitude 30° East to 130° East.

Uses

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

Is NAVIC better than GPS ?

its satellites use dual frequency bands (L5-band and S-band), where  L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2492.028 MHz). The SPS signal will be modulated by a 1 MHz BPSK signal. The Precision Service will use BOC(5,2). Compared to GPS, Each GPS satellite transmits data on two frequencies, L1 (1575.42 Mhz) and L2 (1227.60 MHz). The atomic clocks aboard the satellite produce the fundamental L-band frequency, 10.23 Mhz. Where GPS has one frequency band

Indeed it is better than GPS for reference. NavIC can reach an accuracy of up to 5-10 meters whereas GPS is generally believed to have an accuracy of up to 20m. Not just the accuracy, but NavIC is said to have a faster latch-on time, Where NAVIC is better then accurate than GPS

It huge step towards India’s self-dependency.  we as consumers will be benefited from a more accurate & faster location positioning and navigation on our devices. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the new GPS alternative? Do let us know in the comments below.