India will soon use its own navigation system

India will soon use an indigenously developed navigation system called the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The move will lessen the dependency on foreign navigational systems like the US’ Global Positioning System (GPS). The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is holding a two-day long meeting in Bangalore which started yesterday. During the meeting, the organisation which it will demonstrate the capabilities and advantages of the system to location and navigational device manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers, and Global Information System (GIS) developers. 

ISRO recommends that device manufacturers include a small piece of hardware into their device which will allow it to receive S-Band signals from IRNSS satellites. Manufacturers would also have to include a code into the device’s software to receive L-Band Signals. A senior ISRO official said, “Both these L and S band signals received from seven satellite constellation of the IRNSS are being calculated by a special embedded software which reduces the errors caused by atmospheric disturbances significantly. This in turn gives a superior quality location accuracy than the American GPS system.”

Out of the seven IRNSS satellites, four are already in orbit, while the remaining three are expected to be launched by March 2016. The addition of the fourth satellite in March this year met the minimum requirement for independent positioning. ISRO Chairman, Kiran Kumar said that the organisation aims to make the system available not only to India and the surrounding countries, but to the entire globe. 

The former chairman of ISRO, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan had said that there is a requirement for such a system as a satellite system controlled by a foreign government would only allow limited access. He said, “The requirement of such a navigation system is needed because  access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems can be restricted and  become disturbed  in hostile situations. The IRNSS would provide two services, with the Standard Positioning Service open for civilian use and the Restricted Service, encrypted one, for authorized users (military).” He added, “Our Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System will be a regional system, dedicated for  usage in Indian Main land and 1500 km around. Initially it would be a  constellation of 7 Satellites at an altitude of 36,000 km, distributed in geostationary and inclined orbits. The accuracy is expected to be 10-20 meters  depending on the application.”

Source: India Times

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