Will Navic Replace GPS in India

In order to incorporate location tracking based on India's own navigation system, Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), into a few of its chipsets, Qualcomm has teamed with ISRO. We will have devices in India in the first half of 2020 that use NavIC in addition to constellations like GPS and GLONASS for position tracking.

The Indian government is pressuring smartphone manufacturers to include support for its NavIC navigation system in newly released smartphones that will be marketed in the nation starting in 2019. This effort has alarmed the industry because of the higher expenses and short timeline.

What is NavIC GPS Tracker

NAVIC, which stands for Navigation with Indian Constellation, is the official name of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The regional geo-positioning system was developed by ISRO in India to offer precise positioning within and around the Indian subcontinent.

Why NavIc was Developed when we already had GPS

One of the first things the Indian military looked for after Pakistani troops occupied Kargil in 1999 was the GPS data for the area. The US denied India access to its space-based navigation system, which would have given it crucial information. Prior to the Kargil incident, the country was aware of the necessity for an indigenous satellite navigation system.

According to India, the purpose of NavIC was to end reliance on foreign satellite systems for India’s navigation service fulfilment, particularly for "strategic sectors as well as defence areas."

Is navIC Indian GPS App

Yes, NavIC is Indian and is developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At a cost of $174 million, NavIC was initially approved in 2006.

When NavIC Was launched

It was originally planned for the satellite system to be completely operational by 2012; however, due to a number of obstacles, this did not happen. In 2013, the first of the seven satellites was sent into orbit.

Is navIC available for Public Use
The use of NavIC is currently restricted. It is used for tracking and delivering information about natural disasters, providing emergency warning alerts to fishermen travelling into the deep sea where there is no terrestrial network connectivity, and public vehicle tracking in India.

The next stage that India is pushing for is to enable it on smartphones.

Why Navic was not used till now

Navic is used in certain areas. It has hardware. Navic needs a certain chipset to get enabled in devices. Government has asked the mobile developers to be ready for NavIC and construct their devices with NavIC capability.

Which is better NavIc or GPS

NavIC is compared to the US-based GPS, the Russian Glonass, and the European Galileo because it has seven satellites. In the main service region, the IRNSS is anticipated to deliver position accuracy that is greater than 20 metres. On the other hand, GPS-enabled smartphones with 24 satellites can be precise to within 4.9 metres. However, accuracy will decline near structures like buildings, bridges, and trees.

GPS accuracy is also impacted by cloud cover. The precision of certain GPS receivers can reach 11.8 inches. It is claimed, however, that the NavIC system employs both the S and L bands, as opposed to GPS, which only uses the L band. According to reports, this makes NavIC more accurate than GPS.

The USA maintains the GPS, or Global Positioning System, which tracks locations all around the world. The constellation currently has about 31 satellites in orbit and needs 24 satellites to be operational. These are all geosynchronous satellites, which means that they are all moving with the earth's rotation in space. Calculations are a little bit more difficult with GPS because it only utilises a single frequency band. Whereas 3 geostationary satellites and 4 geosynchronous satellites, all of which are located in far higher orbits, are part of India's Navic programme (signal is less prone to obstructions). Due to the two frequency bands (L5-band and S-band) used by NavIC satellites, the system is comparatively more accurate than GPS (that uses a single band and makes compensation for error due to signal deterioration by the atmosphere).

How NavIC Works

IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, IRNSS-1E, IRNSS-1F, IRNSS-1G, and IRNSS-1I are the eight satellites that make up NavIC at this time.

Actually, Navic was scheduled to have 7 satellites plus 2 backups, but the first satellite, IRNSS 1A, had a broken atomic clock, and an attempt to launch IRNSS 1H to replace it was unsuccessful. IRNSS 1A was finally replaced by IRNSS 1I, completing the constellation, which was launched later.

Future ISRO satellites will be equipped with locally produced Atomic clocks to further enhance NavIC.
NavIC applications passes the gps info received from navic constellation to google map or Other navic map services to get a clear view of location.

How Mobile Industry is going to effect with NavIC Launch

Realme, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has unveiled the Realme X50 Pro, a 5G smartphone model. This is one of the most expensive phones offered by the firm in India, with a starting price of Rs 37,999. In addition to 5G, it has India's own navigation system, which is a unique feature. The desi navigation system, known as NavIC, offers a tonne of functions.
Since Qualcomm has already developed three chipsets that support NavIC, more phones with NavIC capability may soon be released in India.
Government has notified mobile companies to develop mobile phones with NavIC enabled.

Conclusion

In addition to GPS, three other navigation systems with global coverage exist: China's Beidou, GLONASS, controlled by Russia, and the European Union's Galileo. Another regional navigation system covering Asia and Oceania with a focus on Japan is QZSS, which is run by Japan. It is good to have a local or inhouse GPS system for any country as per security and emergency perspective. So India should definitely go ahead with their local GPS system NavIC.