IRNSS – 4 out of 7 are in orbit and the last 3 would be added by March 2016. The IRNSS would provide self-reliance in the strategically important area of position-related information.
GAGAN – focus on airlines, airports and the civil aviation sector but applicable to land and sea-based services. GAGAN enhances the GPS-derived details of location and time of objects
GAGAN will provide augmentation service for the GPS over the country, the Bay of Bengal, South East Asia and Middle East and up to Africa.
Some of its benefits are improved efficiency, direct routes, increased fuel savings, approach with vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings because of the withdrawal of ground aids and reduced workload of flight crew and air traffic controllers.
Gagan works by augmenting and relaying data from GPS satellites with the help of two augmentation satellites and 15 earth-based reference stations.
The system utilises the satellite-based wide area augmentation system (SBAS) technology which has been developed by Raytheon.
Uses:
- Ship navigation e.g. fishermen
- Safeguard women & Children in distress
- Railway Anti-collision, unmanned level crossings
- Farmers
- Power grids and Banks
- River flow e.g. Brahmaputra –> can be tracked and alert people against flood
- Digital India, Smart cities & AMRUT
Write a note on the significance and applications of ISRO’s GAGAN (GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation) system. (200 Words)