...deployment of Iridium NEXT, the company’s second-generation satellite constellation and the world’s most significant commercial space program, which is expected to begin launching in early 2015. Cambridge Consultants will spearhead subscriber equipment technology development for the constellation, which will cover the entire globe. It will also provide input into the broader satellite and ground infrastructure system design upon which Iridium NEXT is being built.

Covering the 90 percent of the Earth that cellular and terrestrial networks don’t cover, Iridium is extending connectivity in places and ways never before imagined, from aircraft tracking in Alaska to the rescue of a trapped mountaineer in Antarctica. Iridium enables two-way, real-time, low-latency voice and data communications services through small, reliable devices and applications that change the way organizations and people are able to operate and live. Building on a decade of innovative design and technology collaboration, Cambridge Consultants is contributing to the Iridium NEXT technology roadmap through its unique knowledge of the current system, as well as its experience in leading-edge mainstream wireless technologies. The roadmap will provide Iridium customers with a new generation of feature enhancements and other product benefits as the Iridium NEXT project moves toward completion and beyond.

With the preliminary design phase of Iridium NEXT satellites completed earlier this year, Cambridge Consultants is now embarking on the construction of prototype communications equipment that will be used to verify the design and performance of the Iridium NEXT system prior to the anticipated start of full construction in 2013. Iridium NEXT is expected to begin launching in 2015 and to be fully operational in 2017. Cambridge Consultants has a proven track record in implementing professional wireless systems based on standardized radio protocols such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, TETRA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DECT, as well as proprietary protocols developed for custom applications.