ISRO's Technology is coming to Android Phones in India

ISRO's NAVigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is coming soon to Android phones in India.

Hyped as an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS), the NavIC satellite technology is designed to deliver accurate position information service to Indian and neighbouring countries users as well. The technology is all set for a commercial application in future Android smartphones in mid-range and budget phones as the chipset giant Qualcomm has announced new processors with the ISRO technology. Qualcomm launched Snapdragon 720G, Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 processors that will power future budget and mid-range smartphones.

The chipset company said it had introduced support up to seven satellite constellations simultaneously, including the use of all of NavIC's operating satellites, in its Qualcomm Location suite. The integration will deliver more accurate location performance, faster time-to-first-fix (TTFF) position acquisition, and improved robustness of location-based services, it added.

"ISRO is satisfied with the efforts of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. towards incorporating NavIC and we urge OEMs to leverage it for future handset launches in India," ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan.

"The availability of NavIC across multiple mobile platforms will help enhance the geolocation capabilities of smartphones in the region and bring the benefits of this indigenous solution to Indian consumers for their day-to-day use," he further added.

Additional big drive to ISRO's GPS technology is coming from Xiaomi and Realme, which rules the sub Rs 20,000 smartphone segment in the Indian market. Both these companies have confirmed the usage of Snapdragon 720G processor for their upcoming phones.

ISRO's NavIC adoption will minimise the dependence on American GPS technology for navigation. We can expect apps like Uber and Google Maps to influence the technology to deliver further more accurate location information service.

The technology can also be implied for disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, precise timing, terrestrial navigation assistant to hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for drivers, aerial and marine navigation, and more.

"Qualcomm has announced that its chip is going to have NaVIC and they are releasing it. Now almost Xiaomi agrees to have it. Xiaomi may launch its mobile phones with NavIC chipsets," an ISRO official had said.