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Cambridge Consultants Achieves Big Breakthrough In Smaller Iridium Transceiver

[SatNews] Cambridge Consultants, a technology product development firm has achieved a milestone in its collaborative relationship with Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:IRDM). In coordination with Iridium’s engineering team, Cambridge Consultants led the design process of the new Iridium 9602™ short burst data (SBD) transceiver, which is nearly 70 percent smaller than the previous model, contains approximately half the number of parts and is now commercially available.

The Iridium 9602 is smaller, lighter and costs less to manufacture than the previous model, the Iridium 9601™ transceiver. The core technology will have a significant impact on Iridium’s future product roadmap with new opportunities for Iridium-integrated devices and solutions. The Iridium 9602 revolutionizes global two-way data communications, opening up new opportunities for Iridium development and distribution partners in global machine-to-machine (M2M) and asset tracking markets. 

Cambridge Consultants, which has a longstanding collaborative relationship with Iridium, was also involved in the strategy and creation of the Iridium 9555™ and 9505A™ satellite phones, the Iridium 9522B™ L-band transceiver (LBT), the Iridium OpenPort® maritime voice and data service, and the Iridium 9601.

“The Iridium 9602 is the latest achievement from our eight year collaborative relationship with Iridium and we are extremely proud of our contributions to the company’s success,” said Richard Traherne, head of wireless at Cambridge Consultants. “The Iridium 9602 utilizes two customized, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), greatly reducing the number of parts from 769 in the previous device to 384.”

The use of the two ASICs makes the Iridium 9602 approximately 70 percent smaller in size and 74 percent lighter in weight than its predecessor. The customized ASICs also improve the lifecycle of the Iridium 9602 compared to devices created with ready-made, commercial-off-the-shelf parts.