Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)

Context

• The Indian government is pushing smartphone makers to enable support for its NavIC navigation system in new devices to be sold in India from next year.

About

• Indigenous technology: NavIC is an independent stand-alone navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• Reliable alternative: It acts as an alternative to the GPS navigation system of the U.S.A.
• Project Cost: It was originally approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million. 
• Operational timeline: It became operational in 2018 though missing the completion timeline of late 2011. 
• A constellation of satellites: NavIC now consists of eight satellites (7 upon launch).

Functional aspects of NavIC

• Coverage: It covers the Indian mainland (primary coverage area) and a region extending up to 1,500 km beyond the mainland with plans of extension.
• Accuracy: 

• Position: Aims for better than 10 meters throughout Indian landmass and 20 meters in the Indian Ocean.
• Timing: Better than 50 nanoseconds(20).

• Applications: NavIC provides two levels of service.

•  The standard positioning service: Open for civilian use.

• For example- transport, map applications, timekeeping etc.

• A restricted service (encrypted):  For authorized users such as the military.

• Current Usage: Limited for-

• Public vehicle and commercial vehicles tracking (NavIC based trackers)
• Emergency warning alerts to fishermen navigating into the deep sea without adequate terrestrial network connectivity
• Tracking and providing information related to natural disasters

Other global or regional navigation systems

• Global: 

• Global Positioning System (GPS) of the U.S.A. 
• Galileo from the European Union
• Russian GLONASS 
• China’s Beidou 

• Regional: QZSS covers the Asia-Oceania region, with a focus on Japan.

Enabling NavIC in smartphones

• Self-reliance: NavIC aims to remove dependence on foreign satellite systems for navigation service requirements, especially for strategic sectors.

• It will further the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat and ‘vocal for local’.

• Risk aversion: Reliance on GPS and GLONASS may not always be reliable as they are operated by the respective defense agencies. 

• They might degrade or deny the services in case of emergency. 

• For e.g. The U.S. denied GPS data for Kargil region to the Indian military in 1999.

• Indian control:  As NavIC is an indigenous positioning system, there is no risk of the withdrawal of service in similar situations.
• Promotion of local industry: Ministries can use NavIC applications to promote local industry to develop indigenous NavIC-based solutions.
• Satellite navigation draft policy 2021 plans to expand the NavIC coverage from regional to global. 
• Global precedents: 

• In 2021, 94.5% of smartphones manufactured in China were Beidou supported.
• Russia mandates inclusion of GLONASS system in locally manufactured and sold smartphones
• Apple’s devices support five global and regional navigational systems like GPS, GLONASS, Beidou etc.

Smartphone companies response 

• Existing support: Major mobile chipset manufacturers like Qualcomm, MediaTek and Broadcom already support NavIC across various chipset platforms.
• Widening ambit: A few recently launched mobile handsets can be enabled to receive NavIC.

• For example, the Redmi Note 9 series from Xiaomi, the Realme 6 series, the OnePlus Nord etc. 

• Concerns: 

• Additional costs: Xiaomi and Samsung reported higher research and production costs (hardware changes-Dual band chipsets) might cause losses in a price sensitive market like India. 
• Tight time frame: Testing clearances can take more time possibly missing the 1 January 2023 deadline for making smartphones NavIC-complaint.
• Technical complexities: Mobile phone chipsets at present support L1 frequency band (used by GPS and GLONASS). NavIC is available in L5 band, making immediate compliance to it difficult.

Way Forward

• For the timely launch of NavIC compliant smartphones, ISRO can provide technical expertise and support to the mobile manufacturing companies.
• Feasibility studies should be conducted to ensure balance between NavIC compliant phones and keeping price stability intact.
• Industry sources have suggested a tentative timeline of January 2025 for supporting NavIC in domestically manufactured smartphones.
• ISRO is also planning to launch a satellite in 2024-25 to support the L1 frequency band for satellite communication and navigation etc.

Source: BS