NavIC – The Third Eye in The Indian Sky

Navic

Guys do you know India has launched its own navigation system named NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) it is also known as IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System). You can download it from the Play store or the Apple store. 

What is NavIC ?

NavIC ( Navigation with Indian Constellation), is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users 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 primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.

Services Provided by NavIC :-

IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area.

Development 

As part of the project, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) opened a new satellite navigation centre within the campus of ISRO Deep Space Network (DSN) at Byalalu, in Karnataka on 28 May 2013. A network of 21 ranging stations located across the country will provide data for the orbital determination of the satellites and monitoring of the navigation signal.

A goal of complete Indian control has been stated, with the space segment, ground segment and user receivers all being built in India. Its location in low latitudes facilitates coverage with low-inclination satellites. Three satellites will be in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean. Missile targeting could be an important military application for the constellation.

The total cost of the project was expected to be ₹14.2 billion, with the cost of the ground segment being ₹3 billion, each satellite costing ₹1.5 billion and the PSLV-XL version rocket costing around ₹1.3 billion. The planned seven rockets would have involved an outlay of around ₹9.1 billion .

The necessity for two replacement satellites, and PSLV-XL launches, has altered the original budget, with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India reporting costs of ₹22.46 billion .

The NavIC Signal in Space ICD was released for evaluation in September 2014. From 1 April 2019, use of AIS 140 compliant NavIC-based vehicle tracking systems were made compulsory for all commercial vehicles in India.

In 2020, Qualcomm launched four Snapdragon 4G chipsets and one 5G chipset with support for NavIC. It is planned to be available for civilian use in mobile devices, after Qualcomm and ISRO signed an agreement.

Reference from :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Regional_Navigation_Satellite_System