NEW DELHI, October 9 — The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Friday commenced nationwide pilot operations for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) barrier-free toll collection—termed 'FASTag 2.0'—across ten designated national expressway corridors.
Under technical architecture detailed by highway engineers, the satellite-based collection matrix leverages On-Board Units (OBUs) embedded with India’s indigenous satellite constellation Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) and GPS receivers. The spatial coordinates enable dynamic virtual geo-fencing, debiting toll levies proportionately to the exact distance traveled along the highway carriageway and eliminating physical toll booth bottlenecks.
Road Transport officials clarified that the GNSS infrastructure will function initially in a dual-hybrid configuration alongside conventional Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) FASTag readers. In subsequent operational phases, physical toll plazas will be systematically dismantled in favor of Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) high-speed gantries, drastically reducing vehicular idling and logistics transit times.
Indigenous satellite positioning architectures (NavIC constellation developed by ISRO, operating in L5 and S-band frequencies across India and 1,500 km beyond borders), spatial geodesy in intelligent transport systems (ITS), Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) electronic tolling, and public capital returns under NHAI monetization portfolios are high-yield domains for UPSC Civil Services (GS-III: Science, Tech & Infrastructure). Candidates should compare NavIC against GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo.