In partnership with Device Solutions, Iridium Communications has launched the Iridium Certus 9704 Development Kit. It’s a compact solution that is compatible with Arduino to bring satellite-based IoT to remote areas that lie beyond the reach of Wi-Fi, LoRa, or cellular networks.
The kit is built around the Iridium Certus 9704 satellite transceiver module. It supports two-way data communication using the Iridium Messaging Transport (IMT) service. This makes it possible to deploy IoT even in the most isolated locations by using Iridium’s 66-satellite low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation for full global coverage. The development board measures 67×77 mm and is designed to seamlessly work with the Arduino IDE. Through the use of the Microchip ATSAMD21J18A microcontroller, it offers compatibility with a wide range of Arduino libraries and tools. It has 22 digital I/O pins, including PWM, analog, and interrupt-capable inputs, along with UART, SPI, and I2C connectivity.
Other hardware onboard includes a u-blox MAX-M10S GNSS module for global positioning, a Texas Instruments BQ24195L IC for battery management, a 3000 mAh Li-ion battery, an Iridium antenna, a microSD card, and a USB-C cable. A pushbutton and piezo buzzer are also integrated. In comparison to previous-generation transceivers, the 9704 module is 83% more power efficient when idle. In addition, it supports message sizes up to 100 kB. The Iridium Certus 9704 Development Kit costs $499 and is now available for purchase from the Iridium website.
