McLean, Va., Jan. 8, 2021: Iridium Communications Inc. has announced the commercial availability of the Iridium Edge Solar — a secure, maintenance-free, solar-powered remote asset tracking and management device.
With its over-the-air configuration capabilities, the Iridium Edge Solar, claimed the company, was best placed for Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), fisheries management, tracking of freight shipping containers, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) applications, monitoring of oil and gas pipelines and heavy equipment telematics data reporting.
The Iridium Edge Solar beta trials, which are almost nearing completion, are thoroughly testing its real-time, two-way communication, over-the-air configuration ability, built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity and secure, ruggedized packaging. The addition of BLE technology enables development of customized deployable sensor systems that can be positioned on machinery, vehicles, vessels or across worksites.
“The Iridium Edge Solar is a unique and versatile solar-powered asset tracking device, when compared to alternatives available in the industry,” said Bryan Hartin, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Iridium, in a written statement. “No other solar-powered IoT tracking device matches its geographic coverage, capabilities and cost-effectiveness, and we believe the addition of BLE local wireless connectivity adds a new level of customizability for applications requiring multiple and disparate sensor readings.”
According to Iridium, the progress of solar-powered satellite Internet of Things (IoT) tracking devices has been marred by questionable field lifespan due to failures of charging batteries, solar panels and packaging susceptible to water-intrusion or cracking. These issues have been exacerbated by the lack of two-way communications with the deployed device, leaving organizations wondering if the equipment suffered a terminal malfunction. Iridium Edge Solar, it said, was able to resolve these issues through complete encapsulation of all vital electronics, military-grade ruggedized packaging and an innovative, intelligent dual-power system, ensuring two-way communications delivery even in low-light conditions.
When combined with Iridium’s global coverage and services like Iridium CloudConnect helping to simplify back-office integration through Amazon Web Services, businesses, governments and NGOs can rapidly scale and deploy this reliable, solar-powered asset-tracking device anywhere on the planet for up to 10 years without maintenance.
Iridium Edge Solar now joins both the Iridium Edge and Iridium Edge Pro as finished Iridium products, each with specified, yet complementary, use-cases to extend the reach of IoT services beyond cellular coverage.
Image credit: Iridium