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GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation) developed jointly by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is more accurate than any other global positioning system currently available, the ISRO chief has said.
“GAGAN is better than any GPS as it ensures that at any given point in time, the measurements are reliable,” AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO, said on the sidelines GNSS users meet 2015.
Reliability“Standard GPS measurements can at times be off the mark by a significant value, but GAGAN-enabled signals can be relied on all the time. That is why aircraft are using it,” Kiran Kumar said.
Other space-based navigation systems are GPS of the US, Glonass of Russia, Galileo of Europe. GAGAN and the upcoming Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) of India aim to enhance the capability of GPS to provide accurate information, specifically for aircraft navigation.
Referring to the common usage of GAGAN on the ground, Kiran Kumar said, “Right now cell-phone users are using Gagan-enabled positioning system.”
ISRO enabled speed post services of India Post to spot the nearest post office through the satellite system in Mysore recently.
Constellation of satellitesISRO will shortly complete the constellation of seven satellites to efficiently operate GAGAN.
“This has been our major focus. After completing it, we are looking at how we can roll out in Saarc countries and later take it global,” Kiran Kumar said.
“Currently it is a thought process. It will become reality as we are working with a few of the countries and add more countries. At present it is 1,500 km beyond Indian borders, same way we can add regional things and make it global, that is one thing we are working upon. We are in talks right now with South Korea and the Gulf countries. We’ll expand slowly. Maybe in a decade, we can do it,” he added.
“Only regional users can take advantage of IRNSS now. GAGAN is a part of global system already. Any aircraft with satellite-based receiver can make use of it.”
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