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Introduction

Iridium Burst services represent a cutting-edge solution for widespread communication, offering efficient data message transmission to a multitude of Iridium devices globally. This technology is a boon for organisations requiring swift and reliable information dissemination to various devices across diverse locations.

Ground Control has leveraged this capability, creating a platform that seamlessly integrates with the Iridium Burst Service. This platform is further enhanced by the RockSTAR Burst hardware, a device specifically engineered to maximise the benefits of Iridium's extensive communication network. Together, these developments provide an unparalleled system for broad and effective data transmission.

Glossary

  • Area: A targeting tool allowing users to define a specific Latitude/Longitude and Radius, encompassing all GDAs within the specified circle.
  • BCA (Broadcast Coverage Area): Iridium's predefined areas, akin to Zones, covering 300 distinct regions like FR for France, inclusive of all French Territories.
  • GDA (Global Distribution Area): Defined by Iridium as circles approximately 100 miles in diameter, each named numerically.
  • Iridium Burst: A global One-to-Many Data Broadcast Service, efficiently delivering data to countless devices within a chosen geographic region, offering cost-effectiveness over similar services.
  • Service: A collection of devices within Cloudloop, user-defined and managed via the Cloudloop Subscription Manager. Services are closed groups, ensuring only authorised devices may see the messages received.
  • Zones: Groups of GDAs created by Cloudloop users for targeted messaging.

How does it work?

burst-network

Sending a message

  1. The sender specifies a recipient group (Service), location (Zone, BCA or Area) and message to be sent.
  2. The Cloudloop Burst platform passes the message and recipient configuration to the Iridium Burst Service.
  3. The Iridium gateway receives the transmission request and sends the data to the appropriate satellite(s).
  4. The satellite network relays the data to the satellite beam(s) which cover the target locations.

Receiving a message

  1. All transmissions are received by every Iridium Burst-enabled device in the target geographic area.
  2. Only devices belonging to the specified recipient group (Service) are able to unscramble the message.
  3. The message is displayed on the screen of the RockSTAR Burst pager.