NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation)

Why in News?

India’s indigenous navigation system NavIC has faced an operational setback after the atomic clock failure in the IRNSS-1F satellite.

• NavIC is India’s regional satellite navigation system to provide accurate positioning, navigation, and timing services.
• It is earlier known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) changed as “NavIC” in 2016.
• Developed by - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• Components
  • Constellation Structure – NavIC is designed with a 7-satellite constellation in high Earth orbit (36,000 km).
  • Orbital Configuration – 3 Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites, 4 Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO) satellites to ensure continuous regional coverage over India.
  • Ground Segment - The ground network includes Control centres, Precise timing facilities, Range and integrity monitoring stations and Two-way ranging stations
  • These stations operate 24×7 to monitor satellite signals and maintain accuracy.
• Frequencies– NavIC operates on dual frequencies L5 band and S band.
• Coverage – Primary coverage is Entire India and Extended coverage is 1500 km beyond Indian borders.
• Offered Services

• Major Applications – Defence (missile guidance and military navigation)
• Disaster management (cyclone and tsunami alerts for fishermen)
• Transport (AIS-140 compliant vehicle tracking systems)
• Public services (railway tracking and fleet management)
• Civilian (smartphone navigation and IoT devices)
• Interoperability - NavIC signals are interoperable with major Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)
  • GPS – USA
  • GLONASS – Russia
  • Galileo – European Union
  • BeiDou – China

Reason for recent setback

• As of now, only 3 satellites are fully operational for navigation – IRNSS-1B (2014), IRNSS-1I (2018), NVS-01 (2023) after the atomic clock failure in the IRNSS-1F satellite.
• This is below the minimum requirement of 4 satellites, to determine an accurate 3D position (latitude, longitude, and altitude).

References

1.  Indian Express | NavIC
2. ISRO | NavIC