Qualcomm-ISRO collaboration in support of India’s Regional Navigation Satellite System

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to upgrade the commercial use of regional navigation, American chipmaker Qualcomm Technologies, in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced support for India’s Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), in select chipset platforms across the Company’s portfolio.

With the backing of Qualcomm Technologies’ engineering talent based in India, this initiative will help accelerate the adoption of NavIC and enhance the geo-location capabilities of mobile, automotive and the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in the region.

NavIC is India’s autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services.

According to Rajen Vagadia, vice president, Qualcomm India Private Limited,

“We’ve been at the forefront of introducing the latest technology inventions and solutions, which our industry partners harvest to bring their own innovative products to market. Our technological breakthroughs and extensive engineering support have helped a robust mobile ecosystem to thrive in India and are enabling the development of cutting-edge technology and new use cases.”

He further added that, the organisation is satisfied to work with ISRO in bringing NavIC to Indian consumers and enhance their navigation experience via high accuracy and greater reliability.

On October 14-16, the first-ever NavIC demonstration using the Snapdragon Mobile Platforms was showcased by Qualcomm during the India Mobile Congress at New Delhi.

The India Mobile Congress (IMC) is the largest digital technologies forum in India and South Asia, consisting of a three-day international conference and a technology exhibition.

IMC, is envisaged to be a massive global event with its theme "New Digital Horizons Connect, Create, Innovate". It aims at building ideas, forging lasting Industry relationships, showcasing leading-edge digital technology & product trends, manufacturing services, sectoral insights and impactful solutions.

According to ISRO chairman K Sivan said,

“NavIC is a critical step forward in our pursuit of harnessing space technology for national development and we are eager to make it accessible to everyone for their day to day use. ISRO is very happy to work with Qualcomm to enable NavIC on Mobile platforms. Qualcomm’s technology leadership and support for NavIC on their mobile platforms will bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to every Indian. ISRO appreciates Qualcomm for enabling the technology demonstration of NavIC support on mobile platform for the very first time.”

It may be mentioned here that, after updating the platforms, As part of the updated platforms, the Qualcomm Location Suite now supports up to seven satellite constellations concurrently, including the use of all of NavIC’s operating satellites for more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix (TTFF) position acquisition, and improved robustness of location-based services.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRSS) is capable of providing exact position information service to users across India and the region extending up to 1,500 km around the country.

According to sources, Qualcomm President said that,

“ISRO had reached out to industry players a year ago and that was when we decided to support and work together. We have been working with them to make sure we have the right software and hardware support on our platforms so that when the platform are enabled, NavIC signals can be decoded on devices. This required both hardware and software changes as it was not possible to do the same changes on existing platforms, which are already available in the market.”

The joint initiative came after global standards body 3GPP approved the inclusion of NavIC in Rel-16 LTE and Rel-17 5G NR specifications. The approval brought NavIC technology to the Indian commercial market for its use in 4G, 5G and Internet of Things (IoT).

It is to be noted that, although the NavIC system is running for some years, it was not commercially getting the required thrust as mobile and navigation device manufacturers were producing NaVIC-compatible devices in the Indian market because of the lack of the chipset or required platform. But it is expected that with the Qualcomm-ISRO joint initiative, the commercial production of NavIC devices will surely get a boost.

According to the California-headquartered company, mobiles with Qualcomm-developed NaVIC-capable chipsets are likely to hit the Indian market next year.

Also Read: Qualcomm India Joins MeitY In Start-Up Support

Also Watch: Northeast Frontier Railways Mazdoor Union opposes privatization of trains in Country