ISRO to set up navigational satellite system

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has begun work on establishing an Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).

According to a press statement from ISRO, the Government of India has approved the implementation of IRNSS over India in the next five to six years at a cost of Rs 12 billion.

“It will consist of a constellation of seven satellites and a large ground segment. The entire IRNSS system will be under Indian control. The system will be developed indigenously and optimized for the specific needs of users in the country”, the statement said.

The IRNSS, which is a satellite-based Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service, is emerging as an important space application not only for civil aviation, but also in many other areas like mobile telephony, surface transport, intelligent highway system, maritime transport, rail, precision agriculture, fisheries, besides oil and gas.

Pointing out that PNT was an important service available through navigation satellites, the ISRO press release said small hand-held receivers are used to determine the user position anywhere in the world. “Location based service will become as ubiquitous as a mobile phone very soon”, the statement said.

An ISRO official said the Government and ISRO decided to set up the IRNSS as the Global Positioning System (GPS) is not in a position to provide accuracy, integrity, continuity and availability required for life-critical applications of civil aviation.

With the help of IRNSS, fleet operators will be able to improve their operating efficiency. “The system will help track a bus, rail cargo or a water vessel and identify its specific location at any given point of time. Mobile phones will no longer be a signal receiver. With IRNSS, the mobile phones of the future will turn into navigators”, the ISRO official said.

ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI) are also implementing a satellite based navigation system over Indian air space for civil aviation called the “Gagan”.

The preliminary acceptance test for the Gagan, which comprises of a space segment and a ground segment, has just been concluded. “The position accuracies available are good”, the press statement added.

===EoM===