Navigation with Indian Constellation is abbreviated as NavIC. It is an Indian-developed satellite navigation system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, or IRNSS, is another name for it.
NavIC – Latest Updates
The Indian government has asked smartphone manufacturers to include support for the NavIC, or Navigation with Indian Constellation. These changes must be incorporated into phones manufactured in the coming year.
This announcement has put smartphone manufacturers in a difficult position because they must incur additional costs to implement this India-specific requirement.
Current mobile chipsets are designed to support GPS and GLONASS, both of which use the L1 Band. Because the NavIC system used the L 5 Band, hardware and software modifications were required to implement the functionality.
This will increase the production costs significantly for the manufacturers of smartphones.
What is NavIC?
The NavIC project was approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million, and it became operational in 2018.
The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is another name for the NavIC system. In Hindi, the literal meaning of NavIC is “sailor.” This system, like a sailor navigating the oceans, will assist users in navigating locations and will serve as an alternative to the GPS and GLONASS systems developed by the United States and Russia, respectively.
Its accuracy is said to be comparable to that of other navigation systems such as GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo.
The NavIC system comprises a system of seven satellites in orbit and two satellites that are on standby. It covers the whole landmass of India and also regions that extend 1500 km from Indian boundaries.
This system is currently used in public vehicle tracking, sending warning messages to fishermen at sea, and tracking and informing about natural disasters.
To improve system efficiency, the number of satellites will be increased to 11 from the current capacity of 7.
Why does the Government want to implement NavIC in smartphones?
The decision to implement NavIC is intended to reduce reliance on foreign navigation systems, particularly in sensitive sectors such as border security.
Because these are foreign systems operated by the respective countries’ defence agencies, civilian service may be degraded or denied.
There will be no such incidents because the area is under Indian control.
