Iridium has announced a list of six beta test partners for a new solar-powered satellite IoT device, which could be used for management of remote assets like vessels or individual containers.
The companies participating in the Iridium Edge Solar beta testing programme are CLS Telemetry, Everywhere Communications, Marlink, M2M Data Corporation, Rock Seven, and Tesacom. As part of this process, devices will be deployed across multiple continents and used for applications including Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), fisheries management, asset tracking including freight and containers, and heavy equipment telematics data reporting.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled smart device applications are also being tested alongside the IoT functionality, to allow users to maintain remote asset management and monitoring from their mobile devices on shore.
“The Iridium Edge Solar is the new gold standard for the solar-powered satellite IoT device world, but at an incredibly cost-effective rate,” said Bryan Hartin, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Iridium.
“Our beta partners will be pushing the device to its limits in a wide array of environments, ensuring it meets the industry-leading quality and reliability standards for which Iridium is known.”
“Iridium’s partners play a pivotal role in bringing our new technologies to market and we’re looking forward to commercially launching Iridium Edge Solar with their help before the end of 2020.”
The Iridium Edge Solar encapsulates all of the device’s electronics within the unit itself, to avoid problems with water intrusion or operating temperature limits. The systems include a dual-power configuration, combining solar rechargeable batteries with a separate high-capacity battery to ensure continued data delivery in low-light conditions.
The new device has evolved from the company’s original 2017 IoT product Iridium Edge. As of the second quarter of 2020, Iridium commercial IoT subscribers reached 863,000 customers, up 20% on the previous year.
