Satellite company Iridium has teamed up with chip firm Qualcomm to integrate the former’s data services into the Snapdragon Mission Tactical Radio (MTR).
In essence what’s promised is satellite connectivity in devices with strict size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements aimed at militaries. Integrating the Iridium services into the Snapdragon MTR will mean equipped devices, such as handheld and mounted radios or autonomous vehicles, can tap into L-band satellite communications in environments where terrestrial networks are not ideal.
The Snapdragon MTR can integrate multiple Iridium services into a single chipset, such as Short Burst Data (SBD) for low-latency messaging and telemetry, and Iridium Burst, which is for the receipt of simultaneous broadcasts to an unlimited number of enabled devices.
