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हिन्दी — Read in HindiSatellite and emerging communications
Satellite internet and emerging ways to communicate: satellite constellations and how their service is licensed and given spectrum, communication between vehicles, short range wireless, photonics and optical links. It serves GS3 answers on communications technology.
All 3 articles shown; the 1 that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026 are marked.Show only these
Photonics
Copy link to PhotonicsPrelims and Mains
Photonics is the technology of the parts that carry a signal as light rather than as current, where India's chip policy meets its network hardware.
- An optical fibre carries light by total internal reflection, because the refractive index of the glass core is higher than that of the cladding.
- An optical transceiver converts electrical signals into light and back, which is where a fibre link meets the electronics at each end.
- Photonics fabs are eligible for up to 35 per cent capital support under Semicon 2.0.
What changed
9 Sep 2026
- Indian firms have formed the India Photonics Association, which says many of the components the industry uses are still imported.
- Demand from artificial intelligence data centres has arrived before a domestic supply of components has.
The Hindu, 9 Sep 2026: India photonics industry forms association amid AI boom (opens in a new tab)
Background reading: The Indian Express, 1 Sep 2026: Semicon 2.0: What is India's Rs 1.27 lakh-crore push for chip design? (opens in a new tab)
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication
Copy link to Vehicle-to-vehicle communicationPrelims and Mains
A vehicle fitted for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication broadcasts what it is doing to the vehicles around it, and listens for the same from them.
On Board Unit
Each vehicle's unit sends its speed, position, direction and acceleration
C-V2X radio
Reaches vehicles within about 300 metres in the 5.875 to 5.925 GHz band, exempted from licensing by the Department of Telecommunications
Alert
Warns of hazards beyond line of sight, which camera based advanced driver assistance systems cannot do
What changed
1 Sep 2026
- The draft Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 2026 would make V2V compulsory in new vehicles made on or after 1 October 2028.
- A vehicle that carries V2V must meet Automotive Industry Standard 230 (AIS-230) from 1 October 2027.
- The mandate covers two and three wheelers, cars, buses and goods vehicles, against 1.83 lakh road deaths in 2025.
- Concerns remain over location data security, band capacity and crashes caused by miscommunication.
The Indian Express, 31 Aug 2026
Satellite internet
Satellite internet: the ground segment, the licence and the spectrum
Copy link to Satellite internet: the ground segment, the licence and the spectrumPrelims and Mains
Satellite internet carries a user's traffic from a dish to a passing low Earth orbit satellite, which relays it to a satellite earth station gateway that hands it to the ordinary internet.
Where the service sits
- Only one part of a satellite internet service is in space.
- No cable has to be laid to the user, which is why the service reaches homes that terrain or distance puts beyond a ground network.
- The ground half is the part a government can reach.
The licence and the spectrum
- Selling satellite voice and data in India needs a GMPCS licence from the Department of Telecommunications and an authorisation from IN-SPACe.
- Spectrum is the one input a satellite operator cannot bid for: the Telecommunications Act, 2023 lists satellite services among the uses for which spectrum is assigned administratively, on terms the government sets.
- Terrestrial mobile spectrum is auctioned as exclusive blocks, so a satellite licence is a set of conditions rather than a price.
- The worry that holds the licences is that a foreign operator could route Indian traffic through gateways outside India.
What changed
22 Aug 2026New
- Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications all hold both permissions, and none has been cleared to begin service.
- The Department's guidelines require data localisation, gateways on Indian soil, a lawful blocking mechanism, restriction of services during hostilities and separate security clearance for voice and data.
- User terminals must carry NavIC positioning by 2029.