The Indian government is pushing smartphone makers to enable support for its NavIC navigation system in new devices sold in the country from next year, a move that has rocked the industry due to added costs and tight deadlines.
Below are details of NavIC’s inception, why India wants smartphone makers to adopt it and how the system compares to other global or regional navigation systems.
What is NavIC?
NavIC, or Navigation with Indian Constellation, is an independent stand-alone navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
NAVIC was originally approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million (about Rs 1,400 crore). It was expected to be completed by the end of 2011, but became operational only in 2018.
NavIC consists of eight satellites and covers the entire landmass of India and a distance of up to 1,500 km (930 mi) from its borders.
Currently, the use of NavIC is limited. It is being used in public vehicle tracking in India, to provide emergency alert alerts to deep-sea fishermen where there is no terrestrial network connectivity, and to track and provide information related to natural disasters. is being used.
Enabling it in smartphones is the next step that India is pushing for.
How does NavIC compare?
The main difference is the serviceable area covered by these systems. GPS caters to users around the world and its satellites circle the earth twice a day, while NAVIC is currently for use in India and nearby regions.
Like GPS, there are three more navigation systems that have global coverage – Galileo from the European Union, GLONASS owned by Russia and Beidou from China. QZSS, operated by Japan, is another regional navigation system covering the Asia-Oceania region with a focus on Japan.
India’s 2021 draft satellite navigation policy states that the government will work towards “expanding coverage from regional to global” to ensure availability of NavIC signals in any part of the world.
The Indian government said in August that the navigator is “as good as the GPS of the United States in terms of position accuracy”.
Why is India promoting NavIC?
India says the NAVIC has been conceived with the aim of eliminating dependence on foreign satellite systems for navigation service requirements, especially for “strategic areas”.
Relying on systems such as GPS and GLONASS may not always be reliable, India says, as they are operated by the defense agencies of the countries concerned and it is possible that civilian services may be downgraded or denied.
The government said in 2021, “Navik is an indigenous positioning system that is under Indian control. There is no risk of withdrawal or rejection of service under any circumstances.”
India wants to encourage its ministries to use NavIC applications to promote local industry engaged in developing indigenous NavIC-based solutions.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
