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India Meteorological Department signed MoU with POSCO Ltd

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences on 18 May 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) for optimum use of weather information/forecast in the power sector. All weather information provided by ESSO-IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System. IMD will make available current weather information for the identified stations; and forecasts at different time scales of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and rainfall of the identified stations/sectors.

INS Kavaratti launched

Indian Navy's latest anti-submarine warfare class stealth corvette, the INS Kavaratti was launched in line with a series of recent developments in India's defence preparedness. Kavaratti is the last of the four anti-submarine warfare class stealth corvettes being built for India under Project 28. The corvette, with a displacement of 3,300 tonnes, has a length of 109.1 metres and measures 13.7-m at beam. It was designed by the Directorate of Naval Design and built by Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers. INS Kamorta, the first ship under this project, was commissioned by the Navy last year. Kadmatt and Kiltan are scheduled for delivery between 2015-2017.

Apple acquires GPS firm Coherent Navigations

Tech giant Apple has acquired Global Position System (GPS) firm Coherent Navigation to improve its mapping capabilities. Coherent Navigation’s technology will be used by Apple to significantly enhance its Apple Maps product which is struggling to provide accurate location information. Coherent Navigations is a company focused on hyper-accurate GPS and its navigation system provides accurate location information to within a few centimeters. The company also specializes in high-precision GPS technogy, which combines standard GPS data with data from the Iridium satellite communications constellation for pin point accuracy. It should be noted that in 2012 Apple Maps was phased out by Google Maps which had attracted a wide range of audience to their service. The acquisition is also part of a series of map-related technology deals made by Apple in recent years. Earlier, Apple acquired mapping start-ups Embark, HopStop.com and BroadMap. All of these mapping start-ups were acquired by Apple in order to create its own alternative to Google Maps for the mapping feature on its devices.