From GPS To NavIC: India's New Satellite Fleet Set To Transform Navigation On Mobile Devices

In a major development, India's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) earlier this week launched the first satellite in a new series that aims to enhance the country's navigation capabilities.

The satellite, named NVS-01, is the first of five satellites planned to be launched over the next two years, with each subsequent launch occurring every six months.

This new fleet of satellites will significantly improve positioning and navigation services for mobile phone users in India.

Currently, mobile phones in India rely on signals from the American Global Positioning System (GPS) or the Russian Glonass system while using navigation or mapping applications.

While India has its own navigation system called NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), its civilian services are not compatible with most mobile phones.

This limitation has prevented millions of smartphone users in India from benefiting from the country's navigation system.

The original NavIC satellites had a limitation—they operated only in the L5-band and S-band frequencies.

The International Telecommunication Union had not granted India permission to use the widely used L1 and L2 frequency bands, which are crucial for navigation services. However, after the European constellation Galileo was authorised to use the L1 band, India requested and obtained the same authorisation, reports WION News.

This interoperable frequency can be used across all mobile device chipsets, provided they use the NavIC signal architecture.

The inclusion of the L1 band in the new series of satellites eliminates the need for additional chipsets and hardware, making it possible for all mobile phones to be compatible with NavIC without any extra investment from manufacturers.

Previously, the Indian government and ISRO had been working to encourage chipmakers and phone manufacturers to adopt the L5 and S bands frequencies used by the original NavIC series.

However, due to technological and cost reasons, phone makers faced obstacles in adopting NavIC, resulting in limited availability of compatible devices.

The latest development simplifies the process for making mobile phones compatible with NavIC. Phone manufacturers will only need to roll out software updates, eliminating the need for hardware changes or new chips. This means that all mobile chipsets are already compatible with the L1 band used by the NVS series of satellites.

NavIC is currently utilised in select civilian applications that require L5 and S-band frequencies, such as train tracking, transportation fleet monitoring, fishing boat monitoring, and geofencing.

However, with the new fleet of satellites and the availability of the L1 band, NavIC services are expected to expand, benefiting a larger segment of users across India.