Did you know that the Global Positioning System used by almost all countries in the world is controlled by USA Govt?
If they want, they can switch off this GPS without any explanation!
During the Kargil war, Indian Army and Air force had to use America’s GPS, and it was a very scary situation.
American monopoly on satellite based navigation is all set to end now, as Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO will launch India’s own ‘desi’ satellite based navigation next year. Christened as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS, this navigation system would be controlled by Indian Govt.
Last week, scientists at ISRO started a series of meetings with various location and navigation device manufacturers, mobile phone companies and global information system (GIS) technology developers from all over the world; to explain them the advantages and benefits of using IRNSS. In these meetings, senior scientists from Space Application Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad had also participated, to showcase how India’s very own IRNSS has technical advantages over American GPS system.
As per reports coming in, ISRO will offer two types of services via IRNSS: Standard Positioning Service (SPS), which would be available for all users (mobile phones, ecommerce services, digital services) and Restricted Service (RS), which would be exclusively for defense users.
Advantage: IRNSS
India’s IRNSS will use seven constellation satellites, which would be operational from July, 2016. Besides providing a leading technological edge over GPS, IRNSS will enable handheld devices to receive seamless S-Band signals from these 7 satellites.
Additionally, once a simple code is added in the mobile phones, they would be able to receive L-band signals as well.
A senior ISRO official said, “Both these L and S band signals received from seven satellite constellation of the IRNSS are being calculated by a special embedded software which reduces the errors caused by atmospheric disturbances significantly. This in turn gives a superior quality location accuracy than the American GPS system,”
Self Reliant India: The Dawn of Technological Age
During various situations such as natural disasters, a military operation or simply business requirements, we had to be dependent of America’s GPS platform to help navigate our operations. This made us reliant on a foreign entity, and scares of data theft, data manipulation and spying were always present.
With IRNSS, India will become part of that exclusive club to have their own satellite based navigation system.
Although some other countries do have their own such satellite based navigation systems, but they are not that efficient and hence, unreliable compared to GPS system.
China has their own BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, which is based on just two satellite constellations, compared to India’s 7. BeiDou is still under construction, and American GPS is the primary source for Chinese as of now.
Galileo is a satellite based navigation system of Europeans, currently under development. The fully functional Galileo, which can act as an alternative to GPS can only be launched after 2020.
As of now, the only viable and reliable alternative to GPS is Russia’s GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System), which can be regarded as GPS equivalent. They have a full orbital constellation of 24 satellites, which is as powerful as America’s GPS.
After GPS, and GLONASS, it would be India’s very own IRNSS which can be described as a formidable force to reckon with for satellite based navigation.
This is one of those new technological masterstroke by India.
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