Akram Mohammed By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: After its success with the satellite-based Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System — renamed Navigation Indian Constellation (NavIC) — the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working towards developing a Pseudolite Based Navigation System (PBNS) that aims to benefit the aerospace industry in navigation.

The navigation system will be based on Pseudolites or pseudo satellites, which are ground-based devices that perform any of the varied roles of the satellite.

PBNS, when completed, will provide the required coordinates for various aircraft and drones to assist them in navigation.

Currently, experiments are in progress to establish the system around major airports in the country, according to AS Kiran Kumar, former ISRO chairman.

He was speaking on ‘Indian Space Programme and Future Technologies Needed to Grounded Aerospace Activities’ ahead of Aero India 2019.PBNS will provide on-ground reference signal generation for any aircraft flying in the Indian airspace, he said.

The system has great potential for use in the rapidly growing aerospace industry.

ISRO is currently working with the Aeronautical Society of India and other partners from the private industry to develop the technology as soon as possible, he said.

Commenting on NavIC, he said that an international chip manufacturer had already developed a microchip that can access global coordinates.

“There is a phone in the market that uses it for navigation,” he said, adding that this services can be accessed from any phone in the near future.