Vehicle tracking systems are becoming increasingly important in larger cities and are more secure than other systems. Vehicle trackers not only provide location-based service but through this the real-time performance of the vehicle can also be monitored.
Nowadays, as soon as one gets out of the house, the most used word is to send your location. Just as the location comes on the phone, you click on it and your mobile starts showing the way. All this is done through amazing GPS. GPS service is a satellite-based service that provides the location, position, and timing of the device along with other information. It is also used for protection. When someone is in trouble, the person’s location can be detected using GPS and transmitted to get help. You will be happy to know that India has also got its own GPS.
Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is the name of Indian GPS, which consists of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) and GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). Together, it consists of 11 satellites. It provides completely accurate information about 1500 kilometers from the borders across the country —it also has an extended service area which covers the equatorial region.
The ‘NavIC’ system launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been recognized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This recognition was received in November 2020. According to ISRO, the Maritime Safety Committee of IMO has given the green signal to NavIC to help it navigate the sea while meeting all operational needs. It is fully functional from June 2019 and has been approved by 3GPP for wider commercial adoption.
Elena Geo Systems, a leading navigation company is transforming Indian businesses by enabling them to use ‘Atmanirbhar’ navigation system through their highly innovative hardware, software, applications, and systems.
A visionary leader tracking the future, Lt Col V S Velan founded Elena Geo Systems in 2012. Today Elena Geo Systems truly dominates the industry with its position as a leader in geo navigation space. Their sole aim is to provide solutions that are unique, differentiated, and standing up to their legacy in the technology domain by offering new-age technology powered by and based on NavIC.
The Company
Elena Geo Systems, as a space technology start-up founded in the Technology Business Incubator of IIT Kharagpur that later moved to Bangalore in 2016 to expand further. It works only in the niche domain of NavIC-based monitoring solutions. It has an end-to-end presence in this domain with its own set of hardware, software, and systems all optimized for NavIC, the Indian GPS.
Elena Geo Systems was incorporated in 2012 and today, has grown to be an Indian Company with a Global Outlook, focused on “Make in India”. It remains the Indian leader by far when it comes to technology, innovation and implementation of cutting-edge technology-based tracking solutions. The company delivers to its clients, multiple benefits from its superior R & D infrastructure, deep domain knowledge and streamlined processes combined with speed of design and implementation at the best cost.
The scope of Elena’s products encompasses applicability in Space, Maritime, and Ground-based Assets. Elena is the only company as on date to have a NavIC processor working on L1, L5 and S bands on a commercial basis. Its B2D module has no equivalence internationally. Elena’s niche line of indigenous products, allows it to provide quality articles to its prospective customers at reasonable cost. It has the best-suited solution for India and the Asian region.
Elena follows an integrated approach in that it uses satellites of India (NavIC), US (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), and other augmentation systems, to give the best possible solution to the users. Its systems can replace all existing navigation systems in the equatorial region and can enable much more new applications which were not possible till now. Elena Geo Systems is a specialist in NavIC; it is Of NavIC, By NavIC, and For NavIC.
GPS is in every field today. It is used in almost all walks of life. We expect that NavIC which is suitable for the Indian region will get adapted similarly.
Lt Col V S Velan
The Journey
In the initial years, the company was focusing on learning the subject and improving ground-based algorithms. Elena’s founder went around the world to learn the subject. For their initial testing and improvement, they were using a multi-GNSS module from FURUNO ELECTRIC CO., a Japan-based company. The availability of IRNSS modules was still an issue.
The founder’s earlier work in the GNSS domain, from 1998, and also his association with NavIC (IRNSS) since its inception in June 2008 helped the company to develop the monitoring solutions in the NavIC domain.
Every successful company has its ups and downs and the road for Elena Geo Systems was also one with its fair share of hurdles and achievements, but one thing that remained consistent was their unwavering spirit and their aim to provide the best to their clients and make the best contribution to the navigation industry and the world.
Series of Elena’s antecedent challenges:
- The Indian Constellation of satellites (GAGAN & IRNSS) was not fully functional yet when the company began the work to develop satellite-based monitoring solutions.
- The search for a suitable partner for the development.
- The knowledge required to help the company was not in the country.
- No Multi GNSS hardware was available.
- They concentrated on testing the ground-level algorithms required for Indian geography.
And the growth accelerated…
The launching of Indian satellites and their stabilization from 2016 to 2018 triggered the growth of Elena. We were now having our satellites to use. The company could concentrate on the development of complete NavIC-based monitoring systems. Existing products in the GPS domain did not fulfill the requirements of the users. Elena developed its own set of hardware, software, and systems, all optimized for NavIC that made its end-to-end presence in this domain.
In the beginning, Elena was a technology start-up company, focusing on the development of products. Then, they gradually became innovators, providing monitoring solutions to the end-users through their innovation. Today, Elena Geo Systems is a leader in NavIC-based monitoring solutions.
The company’s revenue has grown from a few Thousands in the initial years to a few Lakhs and now they have touched a Crore. The company’s growth during the last financial year has been more than ten times than it was in the previous year.
Pillars for Elena’s long-standing success
The company’s vision of continuous innovation through R & D and dedicated focus in this domain are the reasons that have made Elena stand out among the rest. Innovation is one of their four pillars and is the core of the company’s business model. Elena Geo Systems is focused only on this niche domain of NavIC based monitoring.
Of NavIC, By NavIC, and For NavIC.
It is important to understand that navigation is focused on geography and not on IT/Communications/Electronics. This orientation helped the company to achieve its status as a leader in a short time frame.
The company customizes the solutions based on the requirements of the users, which is not the case with other vendors. Elena’s products are indigenously developed through research and development. Others use a mix of components from various vendors to provide a solution. The errors in one component may lead to errors in other components of the system. Their systems cannot be extended to support NavIC and will have to be replaced.
“The requirement for having an Indian system can be fulfilled only if ground-based electronics and solutions are available what we call as a downstream application developed for utilizing our satellites. This is where we were focusing and we started Elena Geo Systems. The Indian Government launched its satellite system commencing from 2008 after realizing the importance of the Satellite-based Navigation System. During the Kargil War, as per information available on social media, the American GPS was denied to India. We found that we needed to have someone dedicated to work in the navigation domain”, Lt Col V S Velan commented.
Elena: someone who shows the path, someone who throws light on the new path.
Elena Geo Systems’ industry-leading and differentiated services
Elena’s services enable enterprises to transform their processes to more sophisticated, more real-time to drive significant value, increase efficiency, optimize monitoring, manage associated risks through early notices, leverage advanced analytics to gain actionable insights, and deliver a superior tracking experience.
Their unique and innovative solutions are not only technologically and cognitively ahead but also advanced and sophisticated than any other company in the space. Elena’s navigation experience is more intuitive and proactively delivers actionable information to the users.
Elena has an end-to-end presence in this domain with its own set of hardware, software, and systems all optimized for NavIC. Through indigenous R&D, Elena has developed the core processor and built devices around it along with the supporting programs/algorithms and server. This provides a complete spectrum of ‘Locating and Monitoring Devices’ with absolute reliability and an extremely high degree of accuracy.
Following is the list of products offered by Elena Geo Systems.
- Antenna: This is a Multi GNSS external antenna that can receive L1, L5, and S-Band navigation signals.
- NavIC Module: Elena’s NavIC Modules are Multi GNSS, can receive NavIC (S and L5 Bands), GPS (L1, L2), GLONASS (L1), and SBAS.
- NavIC Receivers: These are receivers built using Elena NavIC Modules. They bring full GNSS services to user applications with all advantages of NavIC.
- IVTD: Elena Intelligent Vehicle Tracking Device is a versatile tracking device, easy to install and operate by the user. This receives NavIC signals and conforms to AIS 140.
- IVTS: Integrated, Intelligent Monitoring System, which is versatile in its use and can be customized to any monitoring application of the user.
- IATD: Elena Intelligent Asset Tracking Device is a standalone tracking device that can be kept on any asset that needs to be tracked temporarily.
Elena’s vision is to continuously innovate through R & D and bring out more user-applicable products and solutions.
The Anchor of Elena
Elena Geo Systems’ status and respect in the navigation industry is exceptional with their plethora of unique, innovative, and custom-made services, which not only speak highly of their handpicked team of industry experts and masterminds but also their unmatched leader, company’s founder, Lt Col V Shanmugavelan.
Lt Col V Shanmugavelan, an Army Veteran, is a subject matter expert in Satellite-Based Navigation. He has four PG degrees, and six diplomas/certificate courses linked to this domain. He was a sponsored research scholar of MoD to IIT Kharagpur. In 2012, he was trained by GIZ of Germany to understand German technology and to bring it to India.
Being a founding member of the Integrated Space Cell (ISC), he is involved in NavIC from the inception stage since Jun 2008. He was part of the ISRO team for trial evaluation of the GLONASS-based Multi-GNSS receivers and simulators. He was a member of the committee to draft the Indo-Russian GLONASS signal sharing agreement of 2010, this was signed by the Prime Ministers of India and Russia in Dec 2010.
He was System Manager for the development of monitoring systems and GIS for the armed forces, from Jun 2003 till Jun 2011, when he moved to IIT Kharagpur. He is involved in the induction of GPS /GNSS products from 1998, into the Indian Armed Forces.
He admires Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam the most. “A soldier’s life is dedicated to the country; this cannot be compared to any other service. One has to experience it to believe it. In the Kargil war, more than 100 soldiers’ death can be directly attributed to the GPS denial by the USA. This made me resolve to do something for them in return so that his situation does not arise in the future”, Lt Col V Shanmugavelan stated.
The Key Achievements
From an early entrant in the market to a leadership position in the NavIC-based monitoring solutions domain, it was truly a satisfying effort. Elena is the only company on a date to have NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) processor on a commercial basis. Its B2D module has no equivalence internationally. It provides the complete spectrum of ‘Locating and Monitoring Devices’ with absolute reliability and an extremely high degree of accuracy. The range and depth of Elena’s presence are unmatched and can be demonstrated.
Amongst many great customer experiences, their project for JSPL, Patratu plant, in 2013, where the project changed the way they perceived this technology is a special one as team Elena implemented many ‘firsts’ in the monitoring domain.
The Driving Force
Elena is a group of numerous creative, highly-skilled, and passionate professionals. Talents from different social foundations with comparable interests and enthusiasm for innovation in navigation make the Elena group remarkable. Everyone in the team is excited and consistently looking for cutting-edge innovations to help users in running their tracking processes easily.
It’s not about the Ideas, it’s tied in with getting thoughts going and that can show just with the cooperation.
Elena has a core team and technical teams which focus on a specific part of development. The technical team is hired based on their technical capabilities. The core team is taken up after a long process and filtration of suitable candidates. The company looks for interest in the candidates and gives them a free hand on developing their skills. Due to these efforts, Elena has a team of dedicated professionals capable to support the indigenous development of NavIC based solution consisting of hardware and software.
Now or Never – Sky is not the limit.
Magazine Link – The Best of 5 GPS Tracking Solution Providers in 2021
