“Aireon has always been part of Iridium’s aviation safety strategy. We founded it in partnership with the world’s leading Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), because we believed space-based aviation safety was a generational opportunity,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “The aviation industry is now entering an era of growing air traffic, denser airspace, autonomous aircraft, and greater expectations for safety and resiliency. Bringing Aireon fully inside Iridium better positions us to build what’s needed to support the future of aviation, including more innovations like the future introduction of space-based VHF communications.”

The acquisition unites Aireon’s surveillance and data services, including GPS jamming and spoofing detection, with Iridium’s global satcom network and PNT services that help keep GPS-dependent systems working in contested environments. This combination creates one company providing four critical aviation industry capabilities: knowing where every aircraft is, communicating with the pilots flying them, providing the navigation and timing integrity those aircraft rely on, and translating that information into operational insights that make airspace safer and more efficient. No other satellite operator delivers this combination of capabilities on a global scale.

“Aireon and Iridium have been partners since day one, and that partnership is the reason we have been able to build the world’s only space-based air traffic surveillance system and a fast-growing aviation data services business alongside it,” said Don Thoma, CEO of Aireon. “Becoming part of Iridium is a natural next step for our team, our customers, and our roadmap, particularly as our data products expand into new areas like turbulence detection and aviation data analytics. Together, we are building the foundation for the future of global aviation.”

Source: Iridium

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The System Infrastructure Transformation and Hybridization (SITH) contract enables technological refreshes, lifecycle upgrades, and security enhancements to the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) Service Center, Technical Support Center (TSC), and Defense Ground Station (DGS). SITH is a follow-on contract to the Gateway Evolution Contract awarded to Iridium in 2019.

The Iridium network provides resilient, mission-critical communications that warfighters need—anywhere in the world, even under adverse weather conditions. SITH is the latest of three core EMSS contracts between Iridium and the USSF. The EMSS Airtime Contract delivers unmatched truly global SATCOM connectivity, offering unlimited access for an unlimited number of DoD and federal government users. Meanwhile, through the Capabilities and Security Sustainment Services Contract (ECS3) awarded in April 2024, Iridium helps ensure the EMSS Service Center and DGS remain at peak performance.

“Through this contract, Iridium and the U.S. Space Force will continue to innovate and deliver resilient, secure and highly reliable mission-critical communications,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, Iridium. “Our solutions with the Department of Defense are designed to serve every layer of the warfighter’s P.A.C.E. (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) plan. We look forward to supporting the U.S. and our allies through new technology introductions and ongoing collaboration.”

Powered by the only truly global low-Earth orbit (LEO) network, Iridium’s voice and data solutions elevate situational awareness for military forces and provide precise tracking of critical assets in the harshest environments—delivering a level of performance and reliability that is not easily duplicated. Additionally, the company’s expertise in satellite operations and network management is integral as it works to establish the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Source: Iridium

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By integrating Iridium data services, Snapdragon MTR-equipped devices, ranging from handheld and mounted radios to autonomous vehicles, stand to benefit from flexible, highly reliable, and secure L-band satellite communications in environments where terrestrial networks are congested, compromised, or unavailable.

To meet diverse mission needs, the Snapdragon MTR can integrate multiple Iridium services into a single chipset: Short Burst Data (SBD), for proven low-latency messaging and telemetry, and Iridium Burst, for receipt of simultaneous broadcasts to an unlimited number of enabled devices. The Iridium waveform, coupled with QTI’s leadership in commercial wireless capabilities such as cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS, will enable powerful global connectivity in devices with strict size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements.

Iridium Executive Vice President of Government Programs Scott Scheimreif said, “The Snapdragon MTR positions Iridium and QTI at the forefront of next-generation communications architectures while equipping warfighters and coalition partners with scalable solutions.”

QTI-powered devices with integrated Iridium data services, which will be eligible for activation through the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) program, are expected to be available following finalization of commercial arrangements among QTI, Iridium and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Iridium EMSS connectivity provides trusted and protected access to satellite communications for an unlimited number of approved government users. This latest innovation marks another advancement in Iridium’s commitment to the EMSS program, a longstanding partnership that delivers truly global standard and secure voice, broadcast, push-to-talk (PTT), and other services to approved government subscribers anywhere on Earth.

Source: Iridium

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The Iridium Certus 9704 provides larger file transfer sizes and faster message speeds than previous Iridium IoT modules, delivering data, picture, and audio messages for industrial (IIoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) and remote personnel use cases. Like other Iridium Connected^® devices, the Iridium Certus 9704 can provide two-way IoT services anywhere in the world, making fast and reliable connections to a broad array of applications.

The Iridium Certus 9704 architecture simplifies data transfer requirements for use cases like predictive maintenance, diagnostics, telemetry monitoring, remote asset tracking, and command and control for uncrewed aircraft, vehicles and vessels. The module’s larger-sized data messages are also ideal for remote sensing applications protecting wildlife, detecting wildfires and flooding, and enable a new generation of purpose-built satellite messengers and personal safety devices.

“We’ve now packed more capability and value into the smallest module ever from Iridium,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “When companies choose to develop with Iridium, they know they are partnering with the leader in satellite IoT applications, and we’ll support them through the development and deployment of their solutions. We’re excited to see how they implement this new technology.”

Designed for ease of integration, the Iridium Certus 9704 is 34% smaller than the Iridium 9603, 79% smaller than the Iridium 9602, and has an 83% reduction in idle power consumption compared to both. This power optimization makes the new module ideal to support battery powered applications, while taking advantage of two-way messaging, including delivery confirmation, over Iridium’s low-latency, truly global satellite network.

Ideal for supporting traditional satellite IoT applications, the new module can also help organizations become more future ready as Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes integrated with IoT services, known as AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things). With this integration, satellite AIoT services should quickly follow, and companies that deploy products with Iridium Certus 9704 modules inside can then choose to offload more computing to the cloud in a single message, where an AIoT engine can quickly make decisions and send new, actionable instructions back to the remote device. This can lessen the required edge device processing power, lower hardware cost, and increase battery life and overall device lifespan. With IMT at its core, a built-in topic-sorting capability means messages can be efficiently organized for delivery to the appropriate engine for various types of real-time data, audio or image analysis.

“The Iridium Certus 9704 module and Development Kit were designed with the developer in mind,” said Omar Azad, associate director, product management, Iridium. “We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone to experience the new module’s capabilities and quality of the IMT service. When they’re ready to take the next step and build a product to take to market, we’re there to support them with our decades of experience in the satellite IoT space.”

Source: Iridium

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The Iridium EMSS program delivers access to truly global unlimited secure and standard narrowband voice, broadcast, push-to-talk and select additional services to an unlimited number of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and DoD-approved subscribers. Supporting this program, the EMSS Service Center provides connectivity into the Iridium network enabling critical communication applications.

“This new contract ensures our critical support to the EMSS Service Center well into the future. We have been working with Department of Defense EMSS Program Office for over 20 years, providing the sustainment and security enhancements necessary for our warfighters to execute their missions. The EMSS mission is a perfect example of the U.S. Space Force’s recently released Commercial Space Strategy, leveraging the innovation of Iridium and our valuable partner ecosystem,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, government programs, Iridium. “We are privileged and proud to continue to provide support to our most important customer, and we look forward to working with the U.S. Space Force under the new space strategy.”

The previous iteration of this contract, known as “GMSSA” was signed in 2019 for 4.5 years and valued at $54 million. In September 2019, Iridium was awarded a seven-year, $738.5 million airtime services contract by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), continuing the EMSS program and furthering Iridium’s role as an integral part of the United States government’s critical communications infrastructure through at least 2026. This new ECS3 contract will support the infrastructure used for EMSS through 2029.

Source: Iridium

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In this new role, McNiff is providing leadership and strategy for Iridium’s SDA-related business, as it establishes the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The core operations and integration functions include enterprise management, network management, mission management, payload data management, and constellation monitoring that spans the ground, link, space, and user segments of the architecture.

McNiff joins Iridium from Microsoft Federal where he led the Intelligence Operating Unit focused on delivery of Microsoft products and services to its key national security customer vertical. With more than 30 years of experience, McNiff has held numerous executive positions within the federal contracting industry. He spent 16 years at Northrop Grumman, holding senior executive management positions in program management, P&L operations, business development, and corporate strategy. He began his career as an engineer and product manager for commercial satellite and cellular telecommunication companies including GTE and Iridium.

“John brings a great deal of experience and expertise that will help turbocharge Iridium’s SDA operations,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president of government programs, Iridium. “After having previously worked at Iridium as a product manager years ago, we’re glad his career has come full circle with him re-joining our team in this new role. We look forward to his leadership in driving smooth SDA operations and continued success.”

Source: Iridium

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Image credit: Iridium Communications

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The service, named Satellite Time and Location (STL), is an easy-to-adopt, highly secure solution that increases the efficiency and reliability of timing systems for digital infrastructure like 5G base stations, data centers, and other critical infrastructure and protects against GNSS vulnerabilities using low-cost hardware that doesn’t require outdoor antennas. This acquisition continues Iridium’s philosophy of investing in differentiating technologies uniquely suited to its network that significantly outperform competing solutions.

The market for assured Positioning Navigation and Timing (PNT) services, estimated to reach $3.5 billion in 2032, is evolving to require integrated small-form-factor devices instead of the server rack-size solutions connected to outdoor GPS antennas that are available today. Time synchronization and location data play an important role in the global economy, particularly in the commercial sector for major industries supported by critical infrastructure, such as financial services, telecommunications, cyber security, and transportation. These industries and others rely on an estimated 10,000 data centers globally and their hundreds of millions of data processing and storage servers. Each of these servers requires time synchronization and can benefit from the in-server room efficiency and resilience delivered by Iridium STL.

Iridium will now work to reduce the size and cost barriers to adoption, enabling deployment of a more accessible solution for integration with autonomous systems, consumer devices, vehicles and traditional markets like aviation, maritime and land mobile. It also provides an opportunity for Iridium’s existing partner eco-system to add to their portfolio of solutions and harden their GNSS-reliant products and infrastructure.

“This market is growing; it’s a perfect application of our network, and this solution solves a problem for critical industries better than anything else,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch.  “Acquiring Satelles makes perfect sense for Iridium and is consistent with what our strategy has always been, which is to take advantage of our unique network to do what others can’t or do it better than anyone else can.  STL is the superior solution available today, and we have been following and investing in Satelles’s technology roadmap to allow us to create even more opportunity. We’re excited to formally bring the Satelles team “in-house,” to the Iridium family.”

The STL service utilizes the stronger broadcast paging channels of the Iridium satellite constellation to deliver precise timing information, which provides truly global, secure time and location signals that are 1,000 times more powerful than GNSS constellations. The service is resilient to regional GNSS outages, works inside buildings and is being used today to secure digital infrastructure for financial markets, governments, and major corporations.

STL will become a new business line of Iridium, led by Satelles CEO, Dr. Michael O’Connor, who will report to Iridium CEO Matt Desch.  “Bringing STL into the Iridium family is going to be a supercharger for this capability that will benefit our customers and our society. I look forward to a bright future together,” said O’Connor.

Source: Iridium

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The early stages of programming Iridium’s low-Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites offers a special opportunity to smartphone companies, OEMs, chipmakers, mobile network operators (MNO) and related IoT developers to have their requirements woven into the fabric of the Iridium network. Iridium is already collaborating directly with several of these companies.

“This is an exciting moment for Iridium and is a testament to the flexibility and capability built into our satellite constellation,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “The industry is moving quickly towards a more standards-based approach, and after surveying the field, we found that we’re the best positioned to lead the way using our own network, particularly given our true global coverage.”

Iridium is designing its initial NB-IoT offering to support 5G NTN messaging and SOS capabilities for smartphones, tablets, cars, and related consumer applications. Adopting the service will enable device manufacturers to add a satellite connection to standardized devices, take advantage of existing, globally allocated and coordinated Iridium spectrum, and provide a superior low-latency LEO user experience.  The Iridium network supports approximately 1,300 SOS and emergency (911 or equivalent) incidents per year, around the world and has readily available systems, processes, and partners to implement this capability for new devices.

The Iridium satellite constellation’s fully crosslinked, LEO architecture and global L-band spectrum provides a competitive service advantage versus other LEO and geostationary satellite networks. Certified to provide safety of life services by international regulatory bodies, the Iridium network has become the gold standard of reliability and continues to be the only network that provides connectivity everywhere on Earth. Operating in LEO, the Iridium constellation does not suffer from the same line-of-sight limitations, significant power requirements or outages that can affect entire regions from a single satellite as faced by geostationary systems.

Source: Iridium

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The core operations and integration functions include enterprise management, network management, mission management, payload data management, and constellation monitoring that spans the ground, link, space, and user segments of the architecture.  Working with partners at KSAT USA (KSAT Inc.), Raytheon and EMERGENT, the General Dynamics Mission Systems-Iridium team will develop, equip, staff, operate and maintain state-of-the-art, commercial-like operations centers, acquire and operate ground entry points, and lead ground-to-space integration efforts.

“We are incredibly proud to bring our long heritage of mission-critical space and ground communications and networking expertise to the Space Development Agency,” said Chris Brady, president, General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Together with our partners, we’re excited to build the foundation for the SDA’s initial warfighting capability and backbone of Joint All-Domain Command and Control.”

“Iridium, General Dynamics Mission Systems and the U.S. government have a long and successful history of working together and partnering on this project is a natural evolution of our relationship,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “Iridium’s 25 years of experience operating in LEO makes us uniquely qualified for this opportunity, and we’re honored to take on this tremendous responsibility in support of this next generation network.”

Source: GDMS

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McQ Inc. is an Iridium Value Added Manufacturer. McQ CONNECT uses the new Iridium Certus 100 commercial service and is certified for use on the Iridium network. The huge advantage of McQ CONNECT over other satellite modems is the embedded video compression firmware, the small size and light weight, the low power consumption, the many types of information it supports, and the economical Iridium Certus 100 user service costs. The McQ CONNECT product is approved for Iridium Land Mobile and Maritime market verticals with Aviation coming soon, opening up a wide variety of commercial domestic and international applications.

McQ CONNECT is the only satellite modem delivered with McQ vWatch Video Compression software. This advanced video compression solution matches video data rates with the bandwidth available over Iridium Certus 100, enabling high quality video from remote locations anywhere on Earth.

McQ CONNECT delivers these Iridium Certus capabilities in a rugged and small package. Both the terminal device and antenna are fully IP67, and are small enough to fit in one hand. They can be set up and fully operational in a few minutes and require no antenna alignment, no tools, and very little operator training. The McQ CONNECT product provides a simple TCP/IP connection for data and operates at 22 kbps uplink and 88 kbps downlink. McQ CONNECT operates over a wide input DC voltage, and it can be powered from batteries, vehicle DC systems, AC power, and solar charged systems. Iridium Certus is available worldwide (including pole to pole), enabling McQ CONNECT to provide phone calls, IP data and video service from a tent, a backpack, a vehicle, or an autonomous platform to and from anywhere on Earth.

Source: McQ

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