Expansion Of NavIC:
India plans to expand its regional satellite navigation system NaVIC in a bid to increase its use in the civilian sector and also by ships and aircraft travelling far from the country’s borders.
- NaVIC or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) uses seven satellites to provide real-time positioning and timing services in India and an area extending up to 1,500 km from the country’s borders.
- Of the seven satellites used by NaVIC at present, three are in the geostationary orbit and four in the geosynchronous orbit.
- Its use is currently restricted and is now utilised for tracking and delivering information about natural disasters, providing emergency warning alerts to fishermen travelling into the deep sea, and monitoring public traffic in India.
- Currently, NavIC is only compatible with the L5 and S bands and hasn’t easily penetrated into the civilian sector.
- A major forthcoming change is to add the L1 band into NavIC.
- This bandwidth is part of the GPS and is the most used for civilian navigational use.
