Boost To ‘Desi GPS’: Qualcomm Develops NavIC Compatible Chipsets And Devices, Will Hit Market By Next Year

United States’ telecom equipment maker Qualcomm has designed a chip-set compatible with India’s native satellite navigation system, Navigation With Indian Constellation (NavIC), for its use on mobile and navigation devices, reports Times of India.

The NavIC chipsets will enter Indian market from next year and is going to boost the commercial operations of ‘desi GPS’ developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

In a press release, Qualcomm executive were reported as saying, "The initiative will help accelerate the adoption of NavIC and enhance the geolocation capabilities of mobile, automotive and the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions – with the backing of engineering talent in India,"

ISRO chairma K Sivan said that “NavIC is a critical step forward in our pursuit of harnessing space technology for national development and we are eager to make it accessible to everyone for their day to day use,”

“ ISRO is very happy to work with Qualcomm to enable NavIC on Mobile platforms. Qualcomm’s technology leadership and support for NavIC on their mobile platforms will bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to every Indian. ISRO appreciates Qualcomm for enabling the technology demonstration of NavIC support on mobile platform for the very first time,” he added.

NavIC or Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.

IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area.

Some applications of IRNSS include Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation; Disaster Management; Vehicle tracking and fleet management; Integration with mobile phones etc.