How Iridium Is Helping the Army Stay Connected Beyond Line of Sight

As the threat environment increasingly requires dispersion, another important thing is to ensure that the most important data continues to flow

So the Army is really in need of resilient communications at the edge

And what they're asking industry to do is work together as teams to provide capabilities across all modalities of communications

So, line of sight, 5G, LTE, and satellite communications all need to be integrated into single solutions

Where Iridium provides capability is in the L-band, narrow band aspect of that

So, to have multi-spectrum and multi-orbit is going to be very important for satellite-on-the-move connectivity

Having that PACE plan, that primary alternate contingency and emergency built into one solution

is going to help the Army be resilient at the edge. And as D-DIL environments are important

because of the adversary electronic warfare capability, we have to make sure that there is different kinds of spectrum

and different kinds of capabilities so that if any one of them becomes inoperable

it can failover or simultaneously pass data across the different kinds of communications that are in those solutions

So in the modern tactical environment, dispersion becomes increasingly common due to the threat environment

And so there are many opportunities for units and devices and equipment and soldiers to be separated from line-of-sight communications

And because Iridium enables some of the smallest form factor devices, it allows for beyond line-of-sight communications down to individual soldiers and individual pieces of equipment

The good news about embedding that connectivity down at the individual level is it allows connectivity to go to common operating pictures at every level So whether soldiers are using MAVEN whether they using TAC whether they using any of the new systems under NGC

this will allow things that are disconnected to remain connected via beyond line of sight

connectivity. The Army also maintains programs like the Force Tracking Mission Management Center

that consolidate location information for the entire force, giving any common operating picture

the opportunity to see where all friendly units are. As the threat environment increasingly requires dispersion

another important thing is to ensure that the most important data continues to flow

And one of the things that Iridium supports is the absolute essential information

Things like location information, things like chat messages, medevac, fire missions, and of course, voice communications

And having that at the tactical edge allows that key information to remain

even when other networks break down. So as more and more devices are giving more data to individual soldiers in the field

having multiple transports to make sure that data continues to flow at that low level is extremely important

And so Iridium enables devices to be multi-waveform. Iridium has very small form factor equipment, transceivers

And so that allows things to be embedded at the lowest level, at the smallest level

whether that's through multi-waveform, multi-net chips, like, say, a Qualcomm Snapdragon, or whether that's using the very small form factor Iridium hardware that exists

and can be embedded in any number of hundreds of different partner applications

The ability to have unmanned systems working side-by-side with the human aspect on the battlefield

it's going to be a blend of both. And so you're going to have to have satellite communications on the move

you're going to have to have small capabilities, small narrowband antennas that can allow telemetry and command and control of those platforms

as well as having the larger pipes for the data backhaul that comes from that system back to an operations center or to where the decision makers are that require that information to make that next plan on the battlefield

As autonomous systems get more sophisticated, one of the nice things is that actually decreases the requirement for bandwidth

because many of these systems make decisions and do a lot of their activities on their own

So really, some of the most important information that has to continue to flow are things like status and telemetry, navigation, targeting

things that don't require large bandwidth. And with Iridium's small form factor

it allows that information to flow beyond line of sight, so even in some of the smallest autonomous systems at the most basic level

And when combined with other line of sight or other data links

it ensures that those autonomous systems reach their destination and accomplish their mission

Yeah, so the EMSS Unlimited Airtime Contract has been around in different shapes and sizes for about two decades

Right now, in formations, there are the ability to do position location information and messaging to any common operating picture

So EMSS provides various Iridium partners that have solutions that can put your blue dots and your messaging onto various common operating pictures like Maven, Lattice, Wintac, A-Tac

The EMSS program providing that unlimited airtime allows for those small handheld devices and that kind of data for common operating pictures for command posts and for leaders on the battlefield

So the EMSS program has various Iridium partners that make products for logistics, whether it's in transit visibility or getting telemetry off of platforms so that your maintenance team knows the health of that platform

These systems already exist in an unlimited airtime fashion. Small data pipes is all you need, just a few kilobits, to get that kind of data back to the decision makers

So on unattended sensors we have partners that make very small about the size of a deck of cards sensors that can be left unmanned listening for seismic acoustic and metallic activity

and then can send that data back to Sanctuary, where the safety of a decision maker is

to know whether or not further action needs to be taken in that area of responsibility

So across the EMSS program, these exist in the formations, not just the secure telephony

but also small data pipes that give just enough information for a decision maker to move forward

Iridium P&T is the first truly global LEO P&T solution. It is trusted, high-powered, and assured capability as an alternate layered solution

In a GPS-contested environment, Iridium as a part of a layered solution is able to provide confidence and position

where you're navigating and as well as timing. When we think about P&T and GPS and what it provides, the T in P&T sometimes gets lost

And the timing that's important in all those calculations to provide that assurance is critical

Iridium P&T is down to 50 to 250 nanoseconds level of accuracy and is an incredible capability

Iridium solution can be a software-defined solution. or we recently came out with the Iridium P&T ASIC

And the Iridium P&T ASIC is a small 8x8mm chip. So it's about the size of your fingernail

It draws about one watt of power and allows developers an easy to integrate optimized solution

to leverage Iridium's P&T capability. The Iridium P&T ASIC is a great fit to drive down cost

and to be able to integrate a small form factor and provide the resilient Iridium P&T capability