CERTUS 100 and Partner Technologies Address Resilient Remote Access
Iridium Communications, Inc., launched its CERTUS 100 satcom service on 10 November. The service is optimised to enable small, low-profile antennas and battery-powered mobile devices to achieve effective, robust communications at mid-range data speeds.
This means that pictures, emails and compressed video can be sent from austere, remote and difficult-to-access locations. Applications with high bandwidth requirements, such as real-time streaming high-definition video, will not be possible using the service: but many users do not need such capabilities, yet still require a service that gives assured connectivity.
Third-party providers have built a number of products that use the service, and the launch highlights several of these under the Iridium Connected partnership programme. The company says it has already certified “over a dozen new partner-built products that will provide weather-resilient connections up to 88Kbps, with more in development.”
Partner products include SKYLINK, a dual-mode data-management system manufactured by Blue Sky Network, with potential applications in land, sea and air vehicles, and for monitoring IoT equipment; and LT-4100, a data terminal aimed at the commercial and leisure maritime markets, made by Lars Thrane. Further products for UAVs, industrial IoT systems and government IP comms networks are currently in beta test, ahead of becoming available commercially.
“Our new Iridium CERTUS 100 midband service is designed for applications that are agile, remote, and need more throughput than our traditional narrowband offerings, but don’t demand the speeds or larger, heavier antennas used in our popular Iridium CERTUS broadband solutions,” Iridium CEO Matt Desch stated. “The impressive number of new products coming to market from our partners tells us that we’re addressing an important new capability that has never been addressed by satellite operators before.”