Iridium Terminal

In line with a range of activities to enhance their product portfolio, Iridium Satellite selected Cambridge Consultants to act as their strategic wireless technology consultant, developing their next-generation ground-based terminal and infrastructure equipment. As part of this ongoing relationship Cambridge Consultants provides an extensive multi-disciplinary engineering team with world class expertise in satellite communications, to act as the design authority for Iridium’s products.

Cambridge Consultants’ role is to ensure that Iridium’s products remain at the leading edge of radio technology, whilst maintaining the high reliability levels associated with this mission critical satellite-based communications system.  

Approach

Our work began by upgrading Iridium's original 9505 handset. The work centred on re-design of the radio transceiver in all design domains - including RF, analogue, baseband, DSP, software, mechanical and industrial design.

A critical design constraint was the need to retain compatibility with the existing satellite and ground infrastructure. An advanced radio platform was developed that not only exploited the latest proven technology, but also incorporated forward-thinking and flexibility to facilitate future Iridium product developments.

Following this initial handset development, Cambridge Consultants has gone on to develop transceiver modules that support a new packet-based data service and which enable Iridium’s partners to ‘satellite-enable’ their products.  At low cost and with small form factor, these units provide a compelling way to communicate with fixed and mobile assets in remote areas around the world.

Following this success, Cambridge Consultants is now engaged with Iridium to develop further product ideas that will allow Iridium to expand their business into entirely new market areas.

Result

Acting as a ‘virtual design team’ for Iridium, Cambridge Consultants has introduced a range of significant technological advancements that have ensured Iridium’s position as a leading player in the global MSS market.  Active at the design level, as well as earlier in the product concept development stage, Cambridge Consultants has enabled Iridium to implement new revenue streams to expand its business.

Benefit

Cambridge Consultants have been able to facilitate Iridium Satellite moving to a new era in its burgeoning business