Indian GPS is ready..and will hit the market for public use in early 2018
IRNSS, The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, also known as NavIC is currently being tested for its accuracy.
NavIC, whose Hindi meaning is ‘sailor’ or ‘navigator, the name given by PM Narendra Modi after the launch of IRNSS-1G
NavIC with seven satellites covers only India and its surroundings
but is more accurate than the American system.
Also Watch- Indian positioning system IRNSS – NAVIC to be more accurate than GPS, says ISRO chief Kiran Kumar
Q. How would we get accurate data than GPS with just seven satellites?
Ans- Kiran Kumar, Chief, ISRO–
“24 satellites of GPS is for covering the entire Globe, while our 7 satellites are dedicated for India and regions around it. We want to come up with an effective solution for our region, so we are not worried about global positioning. All these 7 satellites are practically visible to the ground receiver all the time. Certain types of errors which are possible in GPS system is not possible with IRNSS and we are also doing some ionospheric corrections in it and hence we are confident that we will be providing accurate data.“
It will provide standard positioning service to all users with a position accuracy of 5 meters.
NavIC has helped India enter the club of select countries, which have their own positioning systems.
America has GPS, Russia has its GLONASS and the European Union, its Galileo.
China is also in the process of building Beidou Navigation Satellite System.
Also Watch: India ready with own GPS as ISRO launches final IRNSS satellite
After the Indian navigation system comes to market, big thing will be to popularize it
