New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has commissioned a Bengaluru-based firm to indigenously develop a receiver chip to acquire and disseminate Indian time for Navigation using the Indian Constellation (NavIC) developed by ISRO. It is considered as a big blow to Google as not only DRDO but also Ola exited. Ola exited itself and started using Ola maps for navigation. The company has saved around Rs 100 crore from this. The IRNSS satellites, via NavIC, facilitate directional mapping for land, rail, and air users, simplifying route navigation. Currently reliant on the US GPS, ISRO has developed IRNSS satellites and is progressing towards public availability of NavIC. Concurrently, DRDO is developing an indigenous receiver chip for IRNSS Network Timing (IRNWT) dissemination. DRDO has commissioned Bengalurus Accord Software and Systems Pvt Ltd (ASSPL) to create a tailored timing system aligned with NavICs operational needs. ASSPL sources mentioned, We are designing an entirely indigenous receiver for both defence and commercial uses.What was the need During Kargil War, India requested US for use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for information of the area. However, it was denied but, now we are now depending on GPS technology even on our mobile phones. It will significantly help the defence sector. However, it is a 24-month project that began on July 1. DRDO takes up seven projects with MSMEsDRDO takes up seven projects with MSMEs with which it has partnered under the Technology Development Fund Scheme. DRDO announced this to social media about this and start ups in the defence and aerospace sectors. DRDO has also taken up a project with Bengaluru-based Craftlogic Labs Private Limited to develop a mechanism to detect the icing condition inflight, which occurs when water droplets are super-cooled when they come in contact with the external surfaces of the aircraft.DRDO is collaborating with various firms across India on several projects: with Noida-based Oxygen-2 Innovation Pvt Ltd for an Indigenous Scenario and Sensor Simulation Toolkit Pune-based Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt Ltd for an Underwater Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Kochi-based IROV Technologies Pvt Ltd for Long-range Remotely Operated Vehicles Chennai-based Data Pattern (India) Ltd for a Radar Signal Processor with Active Antenna Array Simulator and Coimbatore-based Alohatech Pvt Ltd for Graphene Based Smart & E-textiles for Wearable Applications.Ola saved Rs 100 crore a year Bhavish Aggarwal, founder-CEO of Ola Cabs, announced on X that after exiting Microsofts Azure last month, the company has now completely transitioned from Google Maps to its proprietary Ola Maps. Aggarwal highlighted that this move eliminates their previous annual expenditure of Rs 100 crore on Google Maps. He outlined upcoming features for Ola Maps, including street view, neural radiance fields (NERFs), indoor images, 3D maps, and drone maps. In October 2021, Ola acquired GeoSpoc, a Pune-based geospatial services company, bolstering its mapping capabilities for the ride-hailing application. Ola plans to integrate Ola Maps into its electric two-wheelers through a software update scheduled for January.
