Gagan catapults India to select league of nations

New air navigation system joins US, EU, Japan offerings

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Monday launched the country’s satellite-based air navigation service ‘Gagan’, a more efficient system that could reduce airline operational costs. By doing so, India has joined a select league comprising the US, Europe Union (EU), and Japan which have similar systems

The GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (Gagan) system, jointly developed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a cost of Rs 774 cr, is intended to provide accurate navigation services over the Bay of Bengal, South-east Asia, Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Africa. Gagan works by augmenting and relaying data from GPS satellites with the help of two augmentation satellites and 15 earth-based reference stations

Gagan also fills a vital gap between EU’s ‘European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service’ (EGNOS) and Japan’s ‘Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System’ (MSAS) coverage areas. “It took 15 years to achieve this feat. When Indians work as a team, they deliver. Now the need is to spread the word about the potential uses of this system. We will reach out to the end-users, other government offices, and even neighbouring countries which can use this system,” Raju said.

He said his Ministry would encourage states and other ministries to avail the Gagan system as its use is just not confined to aviation but in other areas such as surface transport and agriculture, among others.

A S Ganeshan, project director, Gagan, ISRO Satellite Centre, said: “At any given time, there are 10-11 GPS satellites over India. The GPS co-ordinates are useful, but not always accurate.” “The augmentation satellites with Gagan payload and the earth reference stations gives us a clear and more accurate data for navigation and other purposes,” Ganeshan elaborated. The system utilises the satellite-based wide area augmentation system (SBAS) technology which has been developed by Raytheon.

The implementation of Gagan will immediately benefit 50 operational airports in the country, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said. This air navigation system could also be used by SAARC countries, he added. Gagan is intended to serve as a low-cost substitute for instrument landing system (ILS) and provide very accurate route guidance for the aircraft to save time and fuel.

The technology, however, has one major drawback that only those aircraft that are fitted with SBAS will be able to use the new technology. The cost of refurbishing aircraft with the new equipment and downtime for electronic restructuring are expenses that the financially-stressed Indian airline industry does not seem comfortable having to bear. But the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made it clear that the new system will not be forced upon the airline industry.