Accord Software builds global profile in satellite navigation services

In 1991, when the US waged its first televised war on Saddam Hussein, with CNN showing grainy black and white images of precision missiles like the Tomahawk flying down the streets of Baghdad and entering their target building through open doors or windows, the stage was set for a new generation of weapons technologists to harness America’s Global Positioning System (GPS) to guide missiles, aircraft, warships and land systems more accurately than ever before.
 
That year, five Indians, including three technologists who quit their jobs in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), came together to form a software engineering firm called Accord Software and Systems (hereafter Accord). They began working with the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) on a new indigenous fighter — the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft.
 
Within a couple of years, the GPS had become a new technology frontier and Accord diversified into navigation solutions for Indian missiles such as the Agni and Prithvi, and for newer missiles that followed them.
 
Today, Accord’s GPS-based navigation systems guide most of India’s strategic and tactical missiles.
 
Accord also supplied the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) its first GPS receivers for launch vehicles and satellites, and for the Chandrayaan mission.
 
GPS uses signals from a constellation of the US military navigation satellites to calculate one’s precise position, accurate to within centimetres.
 
In 1995, the US declared the GPS operational for civilian users. There were no guarantees regarding its accuracy, but Accord saw an opportunity to harness those signals and improve their accuracy through “augmentation” software, which filters those inputs through inputs from one’s own satellites like the GAGAN (GPS-Aided Geo-Augmentation and Navigation) system.
 
The accuracy can never be augmented to the level of the GPS military signal, which was inaccessible to anyone but the US military. Even so, Accord augments the GPS signal to a very accurate level.
 
The impetus to work in this field became stronger at the turn of the century, when Russia operationalised its GLONASS system, based on its own satellites, followed by Europe with the Galileo system and China’s BeiDou.
 
Besides missiles, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) began equipping civilian airliners. Accord has become a big player in this market.
 
For the “precision approach” of airliners to a runway, Accord has developed a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) that guides them to within 200 feet of the landing spot. After that, the Instrument Landing System (ILS) takes over and guides them further to the touch down point.

 
Accord has sold licences to four US companies to manufacture these systems.
 
In 2016, Accord sold its manufacturing and sales facilities in America to a US firm called Aspen Avionics, which designs aircraft cockpits.
 
Accord now holds a stake in Aspen, which handles manufacturing, sales and after-sales support of its products in the US.
 
With the DRDO emphasising the developing of micro satellites and nano satellites for tactical surveillance and communications, Accord is set to provide GNSS for these.
 
Alongside GNSS, Accord continued working on avionics software services, which remains a steady source of income, accounting for over half of its $15-20 million turnover.
 
At the turn of the century, Intel contracted with Accord to send 30-40 software engineers to the US, to develop Intel software.
 
By 2000, Accord started working as a Tier-2 software systems vendor to German firm, Diehl, which was a Tier-1 vendor to global giants such as Boeing and Airbus. The partnership with Diehl continues. It has also worked for the UK-based Ultra Electronics in developing “wing ice protection systems” (WIPS), which is used in aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
 
Other Accord software equips airliners like the Airbus 380, Airbus 320 and the ultra-modern Airbus 350XWB.

 
From 2012-16, Accord worked with US giant, L-3, in developing a surveillance system called Automated Dependence Surveillance and Broadcast. The US Federal Aviation Authority has ruled that, by 2020, the ADSB must be fitted on all aircraft in US airspace.
 
Avionics Software Services must conform to rigorous certification standards. Accord has met DO-178B/C standards for application-specific hardware and DO-254 for programmable hardware.
 
From about 30-35 employees in 1995, Accord currently employs over 450 engineers, 250 for software and 150 for electronics and communications hardware, who also work on systems.
 
Accord hires graduates straight out of colleges and takes on their development itself. It has sent 25-30 employees to do their post-graduation in the University of Calgary, in Canada, which has a well-reputed faculty in the field of GNSS. Ten of those completed their PhD before returning.
 
Accord does not have a ready figure for R&D expenditure, but says about 40 per cent of its engineers are working on projects that involve a significant degree of R&D. However, 50 per cent of its engineers work on aerospace software engineering services, where the company does not have design control.
 

Series concludes