navic: Oppo India ties up with ISRO to build solutions around NavIC app – Times of India

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, and the government of India has signed an MoU with smartphone maker Oppo to strengthen the research and development of the domestic satellite navigation system NavIC messaging service.
The MoU aims to pave the way for future collaborations between ISRO and Oppo India to develop indigenous solutions by incorporating the NavIC short messaging feature in Oppo smartphones in the country. It will enable ISRO and Oppo to exchange technical information of NavIC messaging services to build ready to use, end to end application-specific solutions by integrating NavIC messaging service with the mobile handset platform keeping in mind the need of users in India.
Smartphone brand Xiaomi announced a similar tie-up with ISRO in 2020. Several Xiaomi smartphones come with NavIC support.
Dr K Sivan, Secretary, DOS / Chairman, ISRO appreciated the efforts of OPPO, India in scaling NavIC application through their innovative R&D initiatives. He also urged OPPO, India to include NavIC in all their upcoming products.
What is NavIC
NavIC or Navigation with Indian Constellation is the regional geo-positioning system designed in India by space agency 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. ISRO considers NavIC to be more accurate than GPS with position accuracy of 5 metre. Also, NavIC is powered by dual frequency (S and L bands) while GPS is dependent only on L band making it more accurate than GPS.
NavIC system provides regional navigation services covering the Indian mainland and an area up to 1500 km beyond the Indian mainland. In addition to its primary function of providing PNT services, NavIC is also capable of broadcasting short messages. This messaging service is mainly used for broadcasting safety-of-life alerts in areas with poor or no communication, particularly in the oceans.