NEW DELHI: Within days of American tech giant Apple integrating its latest iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max with chips embedded with ISRO’s NavIC navigation system, the Indian government said these chips would be made mandatory in all smartphones from 2025. Minister of State for Electronic and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said all smartphone manufacturers must incorporate the chip by the end of 2025.
The government will also offer incentives to companies that use NavIC-supporting chips in their devices. “We aim to establish an incentive structure that will encourage companies participating in the PLI schemes to adopt NavIC-supporting chips designed or manufactured in India,” Chandrasekhar said.
What is NavIC?
NavIC is a satellite navigation system designed by the India Space Research Organisation. It functions just like GPS. NavIC stands for Navigation with Indian Constellation.
It was initially approved in 2006 and became fully operational in 2018. It consists of a constellation of seven satellites that collectively cover the entire territory of India. The NavIC constellation comprises three geostationary satellites and four geosynchronous satellites—all positioned in significantly higher orbits.
How will it benefit India?
What sets NavIC apart from other navigation systems such as GPS is its ability to provide users in India with more precise and accurate domestic navigation. Technically, this enhanced accuracy is achieved through the use of dual-frequency bands, namely the L5-band and S-band. Due to these dual-frequency bands, the NavIC system is known for its relatively higher accuracy when compared to GPS.
NavIC is expected to deliver a position accuracy of better than 20 metres, making it a valuable tool for navigation and location-based services in India. Moreover, it would reduce dependency on GPS and other global navigation systems controlled by foreign countries. In 1999, during the Kargil War, the US rejected India’s request for access to its GPS system, making it difficult for the Indian forces to identify positions of Pakistani troops. With NaviC, India no longer needs any other country’s help to track sensitive military movements.
How is it different?
There are many satellite-based navigation systems in use worldwide. These include the US’ Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou, and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). Among these, the most popular is GPS, which requires nearly 24 operational satellites and currently has 31 satellites in orbit. All 55 satellites are geosynchronous, which means they do not remain stationary in space relative to the revolving Earth. NavIC, on the other hand, comprises three geostationary satellites and four geosynchronous satellites, positioned in much higher orbits. This placement ensures that NavIC signals are less prone to obstructions.
While GPS uses a single frequency band, NavIC satellites utilise dual frequency bands (L5-band and S-band). This dual-frequency approach contributes to the system’s relatively higher accuracy compared to GPS. NavIC is specifically designed to provide an absolute position accuracy of less than 10 metres on the Indian landmass and less than 20 metres over the Indian Ocean. However, NavIC’s location accuracy may experience a significant improvement in urban areas, where geo-location accuracy tends to degrade.