About

• IRNSS with its operational name NavIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India.

•  It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area.
• An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg south to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East
•  IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.
• The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area.
• IRNSS is a constellation of seven satellites in space. Out of these, three are located in the geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean and the other four in geosynchronous orbits, with the desired inclination and equatorial crossings in two different planes.

Geosynchronous Orbit

• About 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, satellites are in geostationary orbit. At any inclination, a geosynchronous orbit synchronizes with the rotation of the Earth. More specifically, the time it takes for the Earth to rotate on its axis is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds, which is the same as a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit

Geostationary Orbits

• While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference to geostationary orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator. 
• Geostationary orbits fall in the same category as geosynchronous orbits, but it’s parked over the equator. This one special quality makes it unique from geosynchronous orbits.

 Some applications of IRNSS are

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
• Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones
• Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

Why in the news? 

• National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT) conducted a webinar recently on the topic “NavlC — Opportunities for the Telecom Industry” in collaboration with ISRO and Telecom Industry.

About NTIPRIT:

• National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research Innovation and Training is the apex training institute of the Department of Telecommunications.
•  It is involved in conduction of induction Training for probationary officers of Indian Telecommunication Service Group — A (ITS Group A) recruited through All India based Engineering Services Examination conducted by UPSC. 
• Apart from Induction Training, NTIPRIT also conducts various In-Service Trainings, Management Development Programmes, Regional and International Trainings, Capacity Building workshops for Officers of Government of India in various aspects of Information and Communication Technology Administration in India.

Reference:

1. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1714697