NavIC in India: Strategic Autonomy of Satellite Navigation System

In order to realize its strategic autonomy in the field of satellite navigation system, India began to develop and build its own independent satellite navigation system in 2006. In 20 18, the Indian Navigation Constellation (NavIC) system was officially put into operation, becoming a satellite navigation system alongside China Beidou system, American GPS system, Russian GLONASS system and European Union Galileo system. The main difference is that NavIC system is a regional system, covering only India and its surrounding areas.

At present, India is vigorously expanding the installation and use of NavIC on Indian smartphones. In the short term, it remains to be seen whether the policy can be effectively implemented due to the concerns of smartphone manufacturers about R&D and production costs. In the long run, technological nationalism has become a geopolitical risk that needs special attention in the global expansion of scientific and technological enterprises.

On April 13, 2023, Elena Geo Systems, an Indian space technology company, demonstrated the first NavIC chip independently designed and developed by India. Combined with NavIC, a local satellite navigation system, it can support high-precision navigation, positioning and timing applications. Velan, the company's founder and chief technology officer, said, "This kind of chip will bring great advantages to India, because both the government and the private sector can get rid of the dependence on the US GPS system."

In order to maintain its strategic autonomy in the field of satellite navigation, India is also trying to expand the use of NavIC system in smartphones and other devices.

1. Development of NavIC in India

NavIC is the operational name of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), which was developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), a national space agency under the Indian Ministry of Space, for military and commercial purposes. The system is completely controlled by India, and all equipment is made in India. It can support both non-encrypted standard location service (SPS) for all users and encrypted limited service (rs) for Indian security department.

1999 during the Cargill conflict between India and Pakistan, the United States refused the Indian military's request to access the GPS system, which made the Indian military's guided weapons unusable in the conflict. This incident made India, which still relied on American GPS system and Russian GLONASS system, aware of its vulnerability in the field of navigation, and urged India to focus on developing its own satellite navigation system.

In 2006, the Indian government approved the IRNSS plan and allocated 654.38+0.42 billion rupees (about 265.438+million US dollars). It is estimated that an independent regional satellite navigation system similar to the American GPS system will be established before 2065.438+05, covering the whole of India and the area beyond its boundary of 654.38+0500 km.

On July/KOOC-0/day, 2065438, the first navigation satellite IRNSS-/KOOC-0/A in the IRNSS plan was successfully launched after a delay. From 20 13 to 20 16, the Indian Space Research Organization gradually launched the remaining navigation satellites in the IRNSS program.

20 16 On April 28th, the last planned satellite irns 1-G was successfully launched. To celebrate the successful launch of the last satellite of the IRNSS project, Indian Prime Minister Damo Daadas Modi renamed IRNSS as Indian Constellation Navigation, or NavIC for short. However, at the end of 20 16, the Indian Space Research Organization found that all rubidium atomic clocks on the IRNSS- 1A satellite failed and could not operate normally according to the system design.

On August 3, 2065438, the IRNSS- 1H satellite, which was used to replace IRNSS- 1A satellite, was launched, but it failed to reach the designated orbit due to equipment failure. On April 1 1 day, 2065438, the Indian Space Research Organization launched the IRNSS- 1I satellite again, and successfully reached the scheduled orbit four days later.

NavIC system has been officially announced. The system * * * consists of seven effective satellites, three of which are located in the geostationary orbit of 34 E, 83 E and131.5 E respectively, and the other four satellites are divided into two groups in the geosynchronous orbit, which are inclined to the equatorial plane by 29 degrees and intersect with the longitude of 55 E and168 respectively.

In addition to space navigation satellites, NavIC system also includes a series of ground facilities, including radio and laser ranging facilities for determining satellite position, timing facilities synchronized with satellite clock, spacecraft control facilities for detecting satellite state and data communication facilities.

2065438+In April 2009, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India required all commercial vehicles in India to use vehicle trackers based on NavIC system. In 2020, NavIC system was recognized as an integral part of the International Maritime Organization's World Radio Navigation System, enabling merchant ships to use NavIC system to obtain location information.

In the same year, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020 of the United States incorporated NavIC system into the Allied Navigation Satellite System together with Galileo system of the European Union and QZSS system of Japan. In 20021year, the Indian Ministry of Space stated in its annual report that the Indian Space Research Organization would launch the NVS-0 1 satellite from 20021year to 2022 to replace the IRNSS- 1G satellite, but the launch plan has been postponed to 2023.

Secondly, the comparison between NavIC and the world's major satellite navigation systems.

The main difference between NavIC and other satellite navigation systems lies in the scope of use. At present, there are six major satellite navigation systems in the world, namely, China Beidou system, American GPS system, Russian GLONASS system, EU Galileo system, Japanese quasi-zenith system (QZSS) and Indian NavIC system.

Among them, China Beidou system, American GPS system, Russian GLONASS system and EU Galileo system are global satellite navigation systems, which can cover the whole world. Japan's quasi-zenith system and India's NavIC system are both regional satellite navigation systems. The former mainly covers Asia and Oceania, with emphasis on Japan, while the latter covers the whole of India and its outside 1500km.

Due to the small application scope, the satellite network of NavIC system still lags far behind other global satellite navigation systems. Up to now, China Beidou system consists of 35 satellites, American GPS system consists of 32 satellites, European Galileo system consists of 30 satellites, Russian GLONASS system consists of 24 satellites, and NavIC system consists of only 7 effective satellites.

Although the range is limited, NavIC is considered to be superior to other satellite navigation systems in technology. Indian scientists believe that the dual-frequency technology of NavIC system is more advanced than that of GPS system which only relies on L-band. When the low-frequency signal of navigation satellite passes through the atmosphere, the interference of the atmosphere will change its speed, resulting in frequency error.

Because the single frequency technology of GPS only depends on L-band, the United States needs to rely on the constantly updated atmospheric model to evaluate the accurate frequency error. NavIC system mainly works at L-band frequency 1 176.45 MHz and S-band frequency 2492.028 MHz. This dual-band technology enables India to evaluate the actual delay by measuring the delay difference between S-band and L-band.

Tapan Misra, director of the Indian Space Application Center (SAC), believes that this makes NavIC find the frequency error more accurately than GPS without any model.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, then Indian Minister of Space, said in a statement that another advantage of NavIC is that its satellites are placed in higher orbits than the American GPS system: NavIC satellites are placed in geostationary orbit (GEO) and geosynchronous orbit (GSO) with a height of about 36,000 kilometers, while GPS satellites are placed in medium earth orbit (MEO) with a height of about 2.

Although being in a higher orbit may weaken the satellite signal, it also means that there are fewer obstacles, which is conducive to improving the accuracy of NavIC system. According to the Indian Space Research Organization, the position accuracy provided by NavIC system is better than 20 meters, and the timing accuracy is better than 50 nanoseconds.

Third, navigation and smart phones.

After the NavIC system was put into use, the Indian government has been trying to expand its scope of use. At 202 1, Sh. Ruma Maheswaran, the scientific secretary of the Indian Space Research Organization, said at the seminar of the Telecommunications Department of the National Institute of Telecommunications Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT) in India that the NavIC system should be a mandatory system for mobile phones distributed in the Indian market. Shri Anshu Prakash, secretary of United Telecommunications and chairman of DCC, also said at the meeting that all mobile phones in India must use NavlC.

India is not the first country to promote the compatibility of its satellite navigation system with smartphones. Russia is trying to force smartphones sold in Russia to be compatible with GLONASS system, so as to reduce dependence on American GPS system. China Beidou system was completed in June 2020. Although there is no mandatory requirement, by 20021,94.5% of smartphones made in China have supported Beidou system.

Although the Indian government has vigorously promoted the compatibility of Indian smartphones with NavIC system, this policy may not be effectively implemented in the short term.

First of all, the coordination between the Indian government and smartphone manufacturers failed. According to Reuters, in a closed-door meeting in September 2022, the Indian government tried to push the technology giants such as Samsung, Xiaomi and Apple to realize the compatibility of their smartphone products with NavIC system in 2023, but it was opposed by major technology companies, on the grounds that the compatibility of NavIC system requires companies to adjust the hardware of their smartphone products, which means higher R&D and production costs, which are difficult to achieve in the short term.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India subsequently stated that the government has not set a timetable for the compatibility of smartphones with NavIC in India, and the meeting with technology companies is consultative, and the matter is still under discussion with all stakeholders.

Secondly, the support of chip suppliers has not affected smartphone manufacturers. In order to promote the use of NavIC system in smart phones, the Indian government has been maintaining close cooperation with chip companies. In September, 2022, MediaTek, a chip company in Taiwan Province Province, said that with the help of additional hardware, all chipsets of its 5G mobile phones would be able to support NavIC C. The company predicted that about 80% of mobile phones would support 5G within two years.

Qualcomm, an American chip company, said in a statement that it has been cooperating with Indian Space Research Organization for many years to make its chipset support NavIC system, and will continue to do so. However, the support of chip supply has not solved the concerns of smartphone manufacturers.

Parv Sharma, a senior semiconductor analyst at Counterpoint, a Hong Kong research firm, believes that the use of chipset supporting NavIC system in India is still limited, because smartphone manufacturers are still reluctant to add additional hardware and costs to work with chips. Driven by the Indian government, manufacturers such as Xiaomi, realme, Oppo, Vivo and Jiajia have started to sell smartphones supporting NavIC system in the Indian market.

However, according to the data of CyberMedia Research, from 20265438 10 to June 2022, of the total * * * 256 million smartphones sold in India, only about 22 million supported NavIC system.

Finally, smartphone manufacturers' concerns about the compatibility of NavIC systems are difficult to solve in the short term. Smartphone manufacturers are mainly concerned about three issues:

First, hardware adjustment will lead to rising costs. Compatibility with NavIC system on smart phones means that both chips and hardware need to be adjusted, especially the chipset supporting NavIC dual-band technology, which will greatly increase the R&D and production costs of manufacturers.

Second, the time limit of 2023 1 month is too tight for manufacturers. It is difficult to adjust the chips and hardware supporting NavIC system in a short time, because new technologies need more testing and licensing, and most manufacturers are ready for new models to be launched in 2024.

Thirdly, the L5 frequency band currently used by NavIC system is not common in smart phones. Most smartphones use L 1 band, and only a few models support L5 frequency.

Manufacturers try to persuade Indian government to use L 1 band in NavIC system, because it will make it easier for manufacturers to integrate NavIC system into chipset supporting L 1 band, thus reducing the cost of independent development. However, the Indian Space Research Organization said that the NavIC system will not be able to support L 1 band until the next phase of the satellite launch plan is completed at least in 2024-2025.

Four. conclusion

As a regional satellite navigation system, although NavIC system is only used in the whole of India and its border area of 1500 km, its location and timing accuracy in the region are more advantageous. In order to maintain its independence in the field of satellite navigation, India has made efforts to expand the scope of use of NavIC, especially the smartphones in India are compatible with NavIC system.

Because smartphone manufacturers are worried about R&D and production costs, it is necessary to continue to follow up and observe whether this policy can be effectively implemented in the short term. But in the long run, the pursuit of strategic autonomy of key technologies has become the main goal of national science and technology strategy, and technological nationalism is a geopolitical risk that needs special attention in the global expansion of scientific and technological enterprises.