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The government is pressuring smartphone manufacturers to incorporate support by its NavIC guidance system on new smartphones sold in the nation beginning next year, a decision that has alarmed the market owing to higher costs and a condensed timeline. Here are some specifics on how NavIC came to be, why the government of India decided smartphone manufacturers use it, and how it stacks up against other national or regional Navigation.
Key Takeaways
- There are five geosynchronous satellites and three geostationary satellites. One is on alert right now.
- NavIC is currently being used sparingly. In India, it is used to track public transportation vehicles, send emergency notifications to fishermen going into remote waters without access to terrestrial networks, and gather data on natural catastrophes.
- India was pushing for the next phase, enabling it in smartphones.
- IRNSS will offer two different types of services once fully operational: Standard Positioning Service (SPS), available to all users, and Restricted Service (RS), an encrypted service available only to authorised users.
NavIC - Latest Updates
The Indian government has requested that the makers of cellphones with Indian components provide compatibility for the NavIC, or Navigation using Indian Constellation. Certain modifications must be made to the phones created in the upcoming year to be effective. Smartphone manufacturers are bound because of this statement since they must pay extra expenses to meet this India-specific requirement.
The L1 Band is supported by the GPS and GLONASS, supported by current mobile chipsets. Because the NavIC system used the L 5 Band, hardware and software changes were required to enable the capability. For the makers of cell phones, this will result in a massive rise in production costs.
NavIC - The navigation system
An autonomous, stand-alone navigation satellite network called NavIC, or Navigation by Indian Constellation, was primarily created by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At the price of $174 million, NavIC was initially authorised in 2006. Although it was supposed to be finished by the end of 2011, it wasn’t operational until 2018. The whole Indian continent and approximately 1,500 km (930 miles) outside its borders are covered by the eight satellites that make up NavIC.
NavIC is currently being used sparingly. In India, it is used to track public transportation vehicles, send emergency notifications to fishermen going into remote waters without access to terrestrial networks, and gather data on natural catastrophes. India is pushing for the next phase, enabling it in smartphones.
Promoting NavIC in India
According to India, the creation of NavIC was motivated by the desire to cease dependence on foreign communications satellites for navigation service needs, particularly in “strategic sectors.” It may not always be safe to rely on systems like GPS and GLONASS, according to India, as they are run by the defence departments of the individual countries, and there is a chance that civilian services may be restricted or refused.
“Indian authority over NavIC, a native positioning system. No chance exists that the service would be cancelled or refused in a certain circumstance, “According to the government, 2021, India intends to support local businesses working on creating homegrown NavIC-based solutions by encouraging its ministries to employ NavIC apps.
Implementation of NavIC in smartphones by the Government
Especially for delicate industries like border security, the use of NavIC aims to lessen reliance on foreign navigation systems. Given that they are foreign systems run by national defence organisations, there is a reasonable probability that civilian service will be compromised or refused. However, there won’t be any such cases because India controls the area.
Working of NavIC
The primary distinction is the serviceable region that these systems cover. While NavIC is now only for usage in India and the surrounding areas, GPS serves users worldwide, and its satellites orbit the planet twice daily.
The European Union’s Galileo, Russia’s GLONASS, and China’s Beidou are the other three global-coverage navigation systems in addition to GPS. Another regional navigation system, QZSS, is run by Japan and covers the Asia-Oceania area with a concentration on Japan.
To guarantee that the NavIC signal is available anywhere in the globe, the government of India announced in its draft 2021 satellite navigation strategy that it will strive to “increase the coverage beyond regional to worldwide.”
The Indian government stated in August that NavIC is “as excellent as GPS of the USA in terms of precision.”
Authorisation of NavIC by the International Standards Body 3GPP
India’s regional global positioning system NavIC, created by the Indian Space Research Organisation, was previously certified by the international standards group 3GPP, which creates protocols for mobile telephony (ISRO).
The specification’s approval will increase the commercial adoption of NaVIC by domestic and foreign mobile device manufacturers. As a result, these companies can now mass-produce navigation devices that are NaVIC compatible, enabling users of these devices to access desi GPS or NaVIC signals quickly.
The effects of NavIC’s adoption by 3GPP would enable the technology to be sold commercially for usage in 4G, 5G, and the Web of Things (IoT).
Based on NavIC, Indian businesses and startups would be able to create integrated circuits (ICs) & products.
About 3GPP
It comprises seven international communications standard development agencies (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, and TTC) and offers members a stable environment to create standards that define them as 3GPP technologies.
BDS (Chinese), Galileo (European), GLONASS (Russian), and GPS (US) are now supporting the 3GPP’s global navigation satellite system for cellular location.
