Smartphones With ISRO's Navigation System NavIC To Launch By First Half of 2020

NavIC or Navigation with Indian Constellation has got a nod from 3GPP for commercial usage. That's not it, there's some more good for India's first navigation system developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Qualcomm -- a prominent player in the Android chipset industry has officially confirmed that the company will include NavIC technology on its upcoming commercial chipsets.

Most of the Android flagship smartphones launched in the last few years are based on Qualcomm's platform and with this collaboration, ISRO will be able to fasten the adaptation of its own navigation system to compete against its contemporaries like GPS, Galileo, and Baidu.

Qualcomm has already tested this technology on September 19th and is also showcasing it at the India Mobile Congress 2019 (from October 14 to 16).

Qualcomm Location Suite now supports up to seven satellite constellation and can use all of NavIC's satellites for accurate location tracking. Besides the general usage, this technology will also be used in IoT platforms and other several industries that depend on precise location data.

Commercial Availability

Select Qualcomm chipsets with the NavIC navigation system will be available by the end of 2019 to the OEMs. The first set of smartphones is likely to hit the market by the first half of 2020. Qualcomm and ISRO will showcase this technology at IMC 2019 in booth number 4.2.

According to Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager, 4G/5G, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc "this partnership is a result of long-standing presence and investments in the region, including a substantive local engineering force and ongoing initiatives aimed at empowering India's technology and innovation ecosystems, such as the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge and Qualcomm Innovation Lab".

"Qualcomm is looking forward to seeing the growth of India in terms of next-generation mobile technologies and applications for new economic growth and societal benefits across its industries and communities".