Xiaomi to bring ISRO's NavIC technology to smartphones in 2020

Chinese tech major Xiaomi will bring ISRO’s Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, NavIC technology to its smartphones. The capability has been currently enabled by Qualcomm Technologies Inc on several of their Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile Platforms and will be made available across multiple Xiaomi smartphones in India.

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is the regional geo-positioning system designed in India by ISRO to provide accurate positioning in India and around the Indian mainland. It is considered to be at par with US-based GPS, Russia’s Glonass and Galileo developed by Europe.

The implementation was possible after R&D efforts from Xiaomi for software along with ISRO and Qualcomm’s efforts. NavIC is designed to provide accurate positioning in India and 1,500km around the Indian mainland. The system comprises 7 satellites, 3 of which are in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean and 4 in geosynchronous orbit. NavIC is capable of providing location positioning accuracy better than 20 metres.

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