As NavIC is available for civilian use over L5 band (and S band for military use), it is now offering regional coverage covering India and a region extending 1,500km around it. While American GPS, Russian GLONASS, European Union's Galileo, China's BeiDou have global coverage, i.e. all these 4 satnav services are Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). NavIC presently using only 7 satellites to cover a region centering India. As 4 out of 7 satellites are geosynchronous and remaining 3 are geostationary - as a result the satellites are always in line with Indian territories - that makes geolocation highly precise.
History of NavIC began in 1999, when US denied specific GPS data to India during Kargil war. The project of Indian GPS or IRNSS was approved in 2006, and planned to go operational by 2011. But it got delayed, eventually NavIC was launched in 2018.
Just before Indian Mobile Congress 2022 to be organized during first week of October 2022, by the end of September the Indian government requested handset makers to enable support for its homegrown navigation system NavIC on the smartphones. Though timeline was not set. The project of Indian GPS or IRNSS was approved in 2006, and planned to go operational by 2011. But it got delayed, eventually NavIC was launched in 2018.
In October 2019 Qualcomm announced its first of Snapdragon processors to support NavIC system as well as dual band satnav services (L1+L5) - Snapdragon 720G#, 662**, 460*. Later Snapdragon 865## also got L5 support i.e. NavIC support.
*Therefore all future 4xx series should support NavIC -eg, 480/480+, 4 Gen 1 (6nm) (2022).
** Therefore all future 6xx series should support NavIC -eg, 680, 690 5G, 695 5G, 6 Gen 1.
# Therefore all future 7xx series should support NavIC -eg, 732G, 750G, 765. 765G, 768G, 778, 778G+, 780G, 7 Gen 1.
## Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Processor was first 8 series processor to support NavIC. Next ones 865+, 870, 888, 888+, 8 Gen 1, 8+ Gen 1 support L1+L5 - i.e. NavIC supported.
Mediatek is another top leading shareholder of Indian chipset market who creates vfm chipsets. Initially Mediatek's 5G supported new chipset series - Dimensity 1000, 1000C, 700 support NavIC. Second generation of Dimensity chipsets - 1200, 1100, 1000+, 1000C, 900 - all support NavIC.
Just before Indian Mobile Congress 2022 to be organized during first week of October 2022, by the end of September the Indian government requested handset makers to enable support for its homegrown navigation system NavIC on the smartphones. Though timeline was not set.
Two things which are concerning. Apple is yet to support NavIC, and I really don't care about Apple's smartphone. Tensor chips of Google Pixel - does it support NavIC?
|
|
GPS |
NavIC/IRNSS |
|
Operated by |
United States
Space Force |
Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) |
|
Owned by |
United States
government |
Government of
India |
|
Operates over |
L1 and L5
bands |
L5 and S
bands S band for army
use |
|
Coverage |
global |
Regional – complete
India and 1500km from the borders |
|
No. of
satellites |
32
(operational 31) |
8
(operational 7) |
|
Types of
satellites |
GPS
satellites are geosynchronous and are stationed at medium-orbit (20k KM) and
cruising at a faster velocity - results in longer acquisition time and
relatively inaccurate positioning. |
4 satellites are
geosynchronous and remaining 3 are geostationary at a higher altitude of 36,000
km – so satellites are in direct line with earth objects, results in quicker
latch-on time, or Time to First Fix (TTFF) or more accurate positioning. Keeping
them in higher locations helps to avoid signal block by mountains. |
|
Geolocation
accuracy |
< 20
meters for general use (can be better with cellular triangulation) Army use
accuracy - unknown |
5-10 meters
for civilians and 0.5 meters for military use |
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