The collaboration delivered the first-ever NavIC (brand name of IRNSS, acronym for NAVigation with Indian Constellation) demonstration using the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Mobile Platforms on September 19th, and later again at India Mobile Congress, October 14-16. Support for NavIC will be available in select Qualcomm Technologies’ chipset platforms starting in late 2019 and commercial devices with NavIC support are expected to be available during the first half of 2020.
In the detail press release by Qualcomm, they explains, Qualcomm® Location Suite supports up to seven satellite constellations concurrently, including the use of all of NavIC’s operating satellites for more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix (TTFF) position acquisition, and improved robustness of location-based services. These enhancements will enable select mobile, automotive and IoT platforms to better serve key industries and technology ecosystems in the region and will help improve user experience for location-based applications especially in dense urban environments where geolocation accuracy tends to degrade.
However NavIC got big achievement when global mobile standard body 3GPP approved it for use in Rel 16 LTE and Rel 17 5G NR specifications during the 3GPP RAN meeting held at Newport Beach California during 16-20th September 2019. As these specifications adopted by Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI), IoT devices in India can make a switch from GPS to NaVIC. With 3GPP approval NavIC can go more mainstream, and can be easily integrated with 4G, 5G and IoT.
Kailasavadivoo Sivan, space scientist and chairperson of ISRO, said “We are extremely happy to know about the 3GPP approval of NaVIC is fully operational and is doing a great job. Currently, eight satellites are already in orbit. Seven satellites are being used for navigation purposes and one satellite only for messaging purposes. Some apps based on NaVIC are already functional and being immensely used. Soon, we will bring out more NaVIC apps that will benefit to the common man.”
It will also open up a big opportunity for Indian companies and start ups to develop NavIC integrated ICs, devices and other products. NavIC, being regional navsat system may not be useful in western countries, but may have big market in Asia Pacific region.
ISRO was in talks with Qualcomm and Broadcom to supplement the navigation system of their chipsets with NavIC, the Indian GPS. Last year it has been known that Broadcom's BCM47756 chip supports NavIC and will power Xiaomi's flagship. But that didn't happen - neither Broadcom's website search returns with IRNSS/NavIC result nor Xiaomi came up with NavIC supported Broadcom chip powered flagship.
Update: In January 2020, Qualcomm announced launch of three NavIC supported chipsets - Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460, as they support dual frequency (L1+L5) GNSS. Qualcomm is working on the software update to enable Snapdragon 865 SoC as NavIC supported. Qualcomm's Senior Director of Product Marketing Sachin Kalantri informed that the NavIC system would work with Snapdragon 865 and later SoC models.
Further Snapdragon 768G, 765, 765G will also support NavIC.
Update: Xiaomi has launched Mi 10i with Snapdragon 750G chipset, which also supports NavIC - though Mi India's website did not list it, it has been confirmed by Manu Kumar Jain, Global VP, Xiaomi - as he tweeted here.
Second generation of Dimensity chipsets - 1200, 1100, 1000+, 1000C, 900 - all support NavIC.
History of NavIC:
During Kargil war in 1999, Indian Army was denied for local satnav data by american controlled GPS. That time Indian government understood the urgency to create our own satnav system, and eventually it was approved in May 2013. The first satellite, IRNSS-1A was launched on 1st July, 2013. During 2013-2018 ISRO has launched 8 satellites to space, last one IRNSS-1I replaced IRNSS-1A.
Since 2011 ISRO also deployed GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN) which is an implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) to improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals.
US - Global Positioning System (GPS), launched in 1978, 31 satellites in orbit.
Russia - GLONASS (Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema), launched in 1982, 24 satellites in orbit.
European Union - Galileo, launched in 2011, 22 satellites in orbit.
China - BeiDou, launched in 2000 as phase I, 33 sats in space, globally operational by 2020
India is the fifth country to begin its own satellite navigation system.
Applications of IRNSS are extended from basic terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation to disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, precise timing, mapping and geodetic data capture, terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers, and visual and voice navigation for drivers. NavIC will be incorporated with Indian fighter jets for better navigation system, and will offer more accurate data to Indian Army.
NavIC is better than american GPS, for few reasons though NavIC is not globally operational. First NavIC is covering Indian subcontinent, SAARC and Middle East (approx 1500km surrounding of Indian border) with 7 satellites, and operating on dual band (L5 and S1 bands vs GPS on L5 band only) which give more accurate result than GPS. For Indian landscape NavIC will provide phenomenal results compared other global counterparts.
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| Apps are also being updated to support IRNSS/NAVIC + GAGAN. The app here is GPS Test for Android. |
By November 2019 ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix Corp is working on massive commercializaton of NavIC. They are identifying suitable OEM or device makers and comprehensive integrators of NavIC-based systems by floating tenders. Mr. S. Rakesh, MD, Antrix Corp explains early adopters of NavIC would be transporters of resources such as mined ore, coal and sand in various States. GoI mandated that commercial vehicles registered after April 1 must have NavIC trackers [Automotive Industry Standard 140 (AIS-140) ].
In November 2020, NavIC or IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) has been recognized by the IMO (International Maritime Organisation). It will now operate as part of the WWRNS (World Wide Radio Navigation System) to assist merchants in navigation in the Indian Ocean region. Thus India has became fourth country after US, Russia, China to get such recognition.
Early development of NavIC based products:
Back in September 2018, Indian semiconductor distribution company, Ramakrishna Electro Component Pvt. Ltd Group (REC) (http://www.rkelectro.com/) had launched Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) under UTRAQ brand. UTRAQ is the first to use Indian version of GPS, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The module will be produced at Shanghai Mobiletek factory in China and the chips will be made by STMicroelectronics. Utraq will be available in 2 models - L100 (smaller one) and L110 (compact one) at a most competitive price. Mass production of Utraq modules will be done under Make in India initiative of government of India.
In November 2018 Italy based IoT maker Telit Communications Plc (www.telit.com), had launched a new nativation module, SL869T3-I which combines GPS with NavIC and India's satellite based augmentation system (SBAS), GAGAN. The SL869T3-I is a 16 x 12.2-millimeter module with an LLC package. It is provided with a single RF input for L1 and L5 bands. It also contains Flash memory, a low noise amplifier (LNA) and SAW filters. The RF front end is specifically designed to comply with sensitivity specifications contained in AIS-140 standard.
In January 2019, Shenzen based Allystar Technology Co. Ltd had launched Cynosure III architecture based multi-band multi-GNSS single chip HD8041D. It includes support for GPS, and other constellations with L1/L5 signals include Galileo, BeiDou, the Indian NavIC system and Japanese QZSS. HD8041D has a NavIC only mode, and targeted for urban India and Middle East market. In these region, seven NavIC satellites have a higher elevation than both GPS and Galileo satellites. This means IRNSS (NavIC) would provide greater accuracy, precision and available measurements.
Cananda based NovAtel had extened support for NavIC in OEM7 GNSS receivers via firmware update (v7.05.04) in February 2019. With NavIC integration users can get a single point position accuracy of 2.5 m (rms). Access to the L5 frequencies on the OEM7600 and OEM7720 provides triple-frequency capabilities to unlock the potential of GPS L5, Galileo E5a and AltBOC, Beidou B2a and NavIC L5.
Cananda based RX Networks, a mobile location technology and services company, has announced support for the NavIC Constellation on September 23, 2019. John Carley, vice president of sales and marketing at Rx Networks explains, “The addition of NavIC in our carrier-grade infrastructure demonstrates our commitment to our brand and to stay on the leading edge of truly global satellite-based positioning and services. The ability to offer NavIC support is extremely significant as it ensures we can support our customers with exactly what is required in any given region of the Globe.”
Qualcomm press release: https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2019/10/14/qualcomm-announces-support-indias-navic-satellite-navigation-system
ISRO press release: https://www.isro.gov.in/update/14-oct-2019/navic-support-upcoming-mobile-automotive-and-iot-platforms-poised-to-deliver
Early development of NavIC based products:
Qualcomm press release: https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2019/10/14/qualcomm-announces-support-indias-navic-satellite-navigation-system
ISRO press release: https://www.isro.gov.in/update/14-oct-2019/navic-support-upcoming-mobile-automotive-and-iot-platforms-poised-to-deliver
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