IMO recognises India’s NavIC as a component of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System

Bengaluru, December 8

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has recognised India’s NavIC as a component of the World-Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS), the Indian Space Research Organisation has said on Tuesday.

This recognition was awarded in the 102nd meeting of Maritime Safety Committee of IMO (MSC-102) held in November 2020, the space agency said.

It said NavIC had been represented at the IMO by the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), the Ministry of Ports, the Shipping and Waterways with technical support from ISRO.

“In April 2020, NavIC L5 has been incorporated in the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) standard 10403.3 for differential Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications,” ISRO said.

These developments will enable the utilisation of NavIC in the fields of maritime navigation, surveying, geodesy.

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), also called NavIC, is an independent regional navigation satellite system 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.

According to ISRO, the IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.

The IRNSS System was expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 metres in the primary service area, it said.

The system that offers services such as terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, vehicle tracking and fleet management, navigation aide for hikers and travellers, visual and voice navigation for drivers, was named ‘NavIC’ (Navigation with Indian Constellation) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI