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Network Description
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The Iridium system is one of a number of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks developed by Motorola® to provide personal mobile services. The original concept was visualized as far back as 1987 and was granted a full FCC license in January of 1995 for construction and operation in the United States. The Iridium satellite network is now owned and operated by Iridium Satellite LLC (ISLLC).
The Georidium community gratefully acknowledges NAL Research as a source of information used with written permission for this page.
Iridium Satellite
There are four components to the network:
- a constellation of 66 satellites,
- three terrestrial gateways,
- a satellite network operation center (SNOC), and
- Iridium subscriber units (ISU).
For data communications, the Iridium network supports five different modes of operation:
- dial-up data service,
- direct Internet/NIPRNet connection,
- short-burst data (SBD),
- short-messaging service (SMS), and
- Router-based Unrestricted Digital Internetworking Connectivity Solution (RUDICS).
Iridium Network Data Capabilities
Report of the 2004 Technical Workshop on Applications of Iridium Telecommunications to Oceanographic and Polar Research Released
