SEAKR chips picked for Iridium's NEXT satellites

SEAKR Engineering Inc. reports that Thales Alenia Space, the prime contractor for Iridium Communications Inc.'s NEXT satellite constellation, has selected its communications processor for use in the satellites. The Iridium NEXT constellation will replace the existing Iridium constellation to provide enhanced mobile satellite communication services worldwide. The first Iridium NEXT satellite is scheduled for launch in Q1 15.

The communication processor plays the critical role in the Iridium NEXT constellation of providing MOD/DEMOD for the user RF links, the satellite-to-satellite cross links, and the satellite-to-gateway links on Earth. It is also responsible for managing the network and routing user traffic. The processor will support existing waveforms to provide a seamless replacement of the existing constellation while also providing advanced capabilities to improve speed, bandwidth, and flexibility.

The scalability and flexibility of the Iridium NEXT communication processor will also have the potential for new applications beyond voice communications and is being developed with government and commercial cooperative relationships in mind which could leverage Iridium's unique constellation architecture.