The NVS-03 satellite, launched by ISRO on October 30 using its GSLV-F18 rocket, is bringing new power to India's indigenous navigation system, NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation).
Developed by India itself, this system is similar to America's GPS.
How does this help our mobile phones?
Accurate Location: Unlike regular GPS satellites, NavIC satellites are positioned directly above India, helping to show locations accurately even in cities with large buildings.
This helps locations lock on quickly when using apps like Google Maps, Uber, and Swiggy.
L1 Frequency Support: Older NavIC satellites operated only in the L5 band. However, the new NVS-03 satellite includes indigenously built atomic clocks and the L1 frequency band, which is easily supported by standard smartphones. This will make NavIC services available on many more phones.
Here are the interesting details found when checking through the GPSTest app on my phone, as shown in the image:
ID (Satellite ID): The ID seen in the app is a specific number (SVID) to identify each satellite.
ID 2 & ID 10 (Indian Flag): Among these, ID 2 (IRNSS-1B) and ID 10 (NVS-01) are India's own NavIC satellites.
Here, the L5 frequency signal next to ID 2 and the EU flag indicate that my phone is currently using data from India's own satellite to determine location!
ID 127 & 128 (GAGAN): Numbers 127 (GSAT-8) and 128 (GSAT-10) shown below are satellites from India's own GAGAN system. They help improve GPS accuracy through the L1 band.
The numbers shown with China's flag above (14 to 42) are China's BeiDou satellites.
In the coming weeks, as the new NVS-03 satellite becomes fully operational, location services on our phones will become even faster and more accurate!
To check if your phone supports NavIC,
you can download the GPSTest app from the Play Store and try it out in an open area.
#ISRO #NavIC #NVS03 #GPS #Technology
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