Indian start-up designs NavIC chip to track weapons systems 

Bengaluru: A space tech start-up based in Bengaluru has designed a chip that uses India's indigenous navigation satellite system to provide positioning services in civilian and defence sectors.

The chip named NavIC is tiny in size, mere 12-nanometre, and consumes ultra low power. It can be easily fitted into a cell phone or any handheld device.

It can receive signals from a variety of navigation satellite systems including Indian Constellation (NavIC) or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the Global Positioning System of the US and the GLONASS constellation of Russia.

The chip is likely to give India a huge edge as both the government and the private sector can move away from their dependence on the American Global Positioning System (GPS).

The chip has been designed by the IIT-Kharagpur incubated Elena Geo Systems. It was presented to Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan in the presence of Samir V Kamat, chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari.

The start-up has tied up with a Taiwan-based chip manufacturer to ensure a steady supply of the NavIC chip.

The tiny size, ultra-low power requirement and software-based control make the NavIC chip suitable for use in mobiles, handheld devices and wearables with applications ranging from tracking school buses to weapons systems.

The multi-frequency and multi-constellation chip/processor, developed specifically for NavIC, is compact and easy to integrate into any global navigation satellite system (GNSS) circuit and provides continuous coverage and high-accuracy reception to the user.

The chip can be used in a variety of  applications for operational logistics in ships, submarines, radars and drones and artillery weapons and weapons platforms.

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