Indigenously Developed Navigation System (NavIC)

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The government is discussing with smartphone manufacturers about embedding the indigenously-developed navigation system NavIC in phones manufactured domestically.

Global standards body 3GPP has approved India’s regional NavIC:

• Earlier, Global standards body 3GPP, which develops protocols for mobile telephony, approved India’s regional navigation system NavIC, developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• The specification approval will boost commercial use of NaVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) by international and domestic mobile device makers, which means such manufacturers can now mass-produce navigation devices compatible with NaVIC so that users of these devices can easily access desi GPS or NaVIC signals.
• The implications of NavIC acceptance by 3GPP would bring NavIC technology to the commercial market for its use in 4G, 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).
• Indian companies and startups will have an opportunity to design integrated circuits (ICs) and products based on NavIC

What is 3GPP:

• It comprises seven telecommunications standard development organisations (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC) from across the world and provides their members with a stable environment to produce specifications that define 3GPP technologies.
• 3GPP currently has global navigation satellite system support from BDS (Chinese), Galileo (European), GLONASS (Russian) & GPS (US) for cellular positioning system.

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS): NavIC

• IRNSS (NavIC) is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• It provides 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
• The space segment consists of the IRNSS constellation of eight satellites, NavIC 

Types of Services:

• Standard Positioning Service (SPS): It will be provided to all the users.
• Restricted Service (RS): It is an encrypted service that will be provided only to authorized users (military and security agencies).

Applications:

• 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 travelers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

Additional Information:

• Global Positioning System (GPS): It is a U.S.-owned satellite-based radio navigation system that provides users with positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services
• Other global GNSS systems: GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (EU), BeiDou (China).