Iridium Communications Inc., a leading provider of global voice and data satellite communications, has officially announced the launch of Iridium Certus™9704, which happens to be its newest IoT module. The company also took this opportunity to launch an Iridium Certus 9704 Development Kit.
Starting with the former, Iridium Certus™9704 arrives on the scene featuring Iridium Messaging Transport® (IMT®) technology. More on the same would reveal how it happens to be the smallest and most powerful module created by Iridium, ideal for supporting satellite IoT applications that require real-time data analysis, analytics and automated decision-making.
Markedly enough, Iridium Certus 9704 also provides larger file transfer sizes and faster message speeds than previous Iridium® IoT modules, and it leverages that for delivering data, picture, and audio messages for industrial (IIoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) and remote personnel use cases. Another detail worth a mention here is how, like other Iridium Connected® devices, the Iridium Certus 9704 can provide two-way IoT services anywhere in the world. This treads up a long distance to facilitate fast and reliable connections for a broad array of applications.
Moving on, the module in question can even simplify data transfer requirements for use cases like predictive maintenance, diagnostics, telemetry monitoring, remote asset tracking, as well as command and control for uncrewed aircraft, vehicles, and vessels. Beyond that, it must be mentioned that module’s larger-sized data messages are ideal for remote sensing applications engaged in defense operations, protecting wildlife, and detecting wildfires.
Not just that, these data messages are also well-equipped to 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.”
Going by the available details, 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. Such power optimization capabilities allows for the module to support battery powered applications, while simultaneously taking advantage of two-way messaging, including delivery confirmation, over Iridium’s low-latency, truly global satellite network.
We referred to how the module is ideal for supporting traditional satellite IoT applications, but what we haven’t yet is how it can also effectively help organizations become more future ready as Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes integrated with IoT services, known as AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things).
You see, by leveraging the given integration, satellite AIoT services should be able to quickly follow, with companies that deploy Iridium Certus 9704 modules-embedded products then having a choice to offload more computing to the cloud in a single message. Once they do so, an AIoT engine can quickly make decisions and send new, actionable instructions back to the remote device. The idea behind that is to reduce the required edge device processing power, lower hardware cost, as well as increase battery life and overall device lifespan. Boasting IMT at its core, a built-in topic-sorting capability translates to messages being efficiently organized for delivery to the appropriate engine, enabling various types of real-time data, audio or image analysis.
Turning our attention towards Iridium Certus 9704 Development Kit, it happens to be a complete test kit featuring a motherboard, power supply, antenna, module and software from the popular Arduino platform. The platform in question was markedly designed to provide maximum autonomy and flexibility for developers, boasting 1,000 free messages and GitLab hosted reference materials.
Among other things, we must mention how Iridium has partnered with Blynk to give developers an all-in-one platform for data visualization and a rapid unboxing-to-live-testing experience.
“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.”
