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Arising from a collaboration spanning more than two decades, this project has helped to catapult Iridium’s commercial IoT (Internet of Things) offering to new heights. Through this transformative ASIC innovation, the global satellite network has successfully launched a whole new generation of powerful satellite IoT devices supported by core technology developed by CC.
NEXT constellation transforms global satellite connectivity
Iridium’s unique LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite constellation architecture is the only network to cover the entire planet. Offering fast and reliable communication across the globe for more than 1.5 million pilots, mariners, first responders, governments and more, this network’s expansive use cases vary from emergency services to industrial applications.
Keen to continue enhancing their global network, Iridium launched the NEXT constellation, marking a total replacement of their legacy satellite network. A colossal undertaking – but one that would allow Iridium to offer entirely new and improved services to their customers.
For this venture to succeed, a new range of IoT terminals was needed to match the performance of the Iridium’s Certus® service – the world’s only truly global mobile broadband service made possible by the NEXT constellation. In other words, the new terminals needed to provide more powerful computation than the previous generation while maintaining the same low power.
CC’s role in this task was to engineer the baseband processing in an exceptionally power-efficient ASIC IP block. Sitting within the Certus modems, this core technology has since been integrated throughout Iridium’s vast IoT device lineup to offer fast, reliable and seamless communication across the network.
IoT growth boosts market leadership for Iridium
A wide ecosystem of IoT products now contains the ASIC IP, spanning Iridium’s array of compact IoT devices, as well as products offered by Iridium’s Value-Added Manufacturers (VAMs). This innovation has enabled Iridium to continue to evolve their vast network, allowing their customers to benefit from the higher data rates of the Iridium NEXT satellites, faster connections and access to dynamic new services.
The launch of the NEXT constellation and the fresh range of IoT services it provides has set Iridium apart as a true industry leader. The business continues to flourish as a result, seeing a 14% rise in total billable subscribers in 2023 driven primarily by significant commercial IoT growth.
20-year partnership stimulates core technology innovation
This development is one of many collaborations in CC’s long and productive relationship with Iridium. As Iridium’s core technology partner since 2003, CC has proudly played a key role in developing the distinctive technology woven throughout Iridium’s expansive ecosystem.
This ranges from Iridium Extreme PTT – the first ever global push-to-talk satellite phone – to the software powering their real-time, carrier grade gateway systems and global communications services.
This wealth of custom, hard-to-replicate deep technology has helped facilitate Iridium’s enduring business growth over the last two decades, empowering them to continuously enhance their service offering and assure their place in the satellite industry as a market leader.
“Our technology partner, Cambridge Consultants, is unique in its ability to support our vision of state-of-the-art connectivity, anywhere in the world. Cambridge Consultants has achieved this position with us under challenging time constraints, employing their world-class skills across a range of disciplines, including strategic insight, digital service design, communication network expertise and device development. They’ve helped us redefine the capabilities of satellite communications.”
Developing the next generation of satellite IoT devices
For this ASIC IP project, an off-the-shelf design simply couldn’t meet the challenge. The new range of IoT terminals needed significantly more computation than the previous generation to achieve the performance of the new Certus® L-band broadband service, all while maintaining low power in smaller, more cost-effective terminals.
The technology also needed to be powerful and flexible enough to stand the test of time. Iridium’s satellites are software defined, meaning the network is reliant on flexible and robust software that allows Iridium to continuously add new capabilities and address new use cases. This would allow Iridium to continue offering unmatched global connectivity to their customers even as market needs evolve.
And let’s not forget – Iridium’s satellite network is the only one in existence with full global coverage, designed for users to be able to talk and connect from anywhere in the world. To achieve this feat, Iridium’s satellites orbit the Earth at 27,000kph. Unsurprisingly, this presents an immense technical challenge. To bring users the reliable connection Iridium offers, the technology must connect to these fast-orbiting satellites in a manner that can cope with the Doppler and interference.
“QUOTE COMING SOON”
Generating low-power, high-performance ASIC
To take on the challenge, CC drew upon our deep tech expertise in digital ASIC IP, signal processing, DSP (Digital Signal Processing) and low-power device design. The result was a sophisticated ASIC IP block utilising baseband PHY processing. Achieving a remarkable fourfold increase in data rates in the same bandwidth for satellites moving at 27,000kph and delivering 4.6 GMAC/s of DSP computation at low power, this breakthrough offers significantly enhanced performance and allows for Iridium to continue extending the functionality for future transceivers.
To develop the impressive computation, speed, density and power efficiency required for the ASIC IP, we used the Sapphyre cluster: a CC patented processing architecture. Harnessing parallel design, it combines the flexibility of software with the low power of custom hardware to enable greater power optimisation and speed. The cluster helped refine the ASIC IP’s extraordinary efficiency to use just a tenth of the power of the previous generation of chips. And thanks to Sapphyre’s hardware-software co-design methodology, we were also able to avoid the need for respins and revisions, dramatically cutting down development time and costs.
Together, Iridium and CC have ushered in a new era of global connectivity to redefine the capabilities of satellite communications. Marked by transformative innovation and shared successes, our long collaboration with Iridium has helped to enhance the satellite network’s commercial IoT offering and affirm their position as market leaders.
Looking back at the milestones already achieved and the boundless potential that still lies ahead, we’re excited to continue shaping the future of satellite communications with Iridium, one breakthrough at a time.
