RockREMOTE
RockREMOTE combines Iridium Certus 100 satellite and LTE cellular connectivity in a flexible industrial gateway designed for installation in cabinets and sheltered environments. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, serial and GPIO interfaces make it easy to connect existing industrial equipment. Automatic switching between networks, Linux-based processing and Cloudloop management help keep remote assets connected when cellular networks are unavailable.
Key Capabilities
Combine resilient satellite and cellular connectivity, flexible industrial interfaces and remote management in one cabinet ready communications gateway.
Automatic switching between LTE cellular and Iridium Certus 100 satellite connectivity
Flexible IP data and efficient messaging over Certus 100 or IMT
Connect industrial equipment through Ethernet, Wi-Fi, serial ports and isolated GPIO
Reliable Linux performance with a quad-core processor, 2 GB RAM and 8 GB storage
Flexible desktop or DIN rail mounting with Cloudloop Device Manager support
Industrial IoT for Remote Assets
Legacy network shutdowns can leave critical remote equipment disconnected. RockREMOTE helps extend the life of existing infrastructure by adding reliable satellite and LTE cellular connectivity without requiring a complete system replacement.
RockREMOTE provides flexible IP or message based communications for fixed and semi fixed industrial IoT applications worldwide. Ethernet, Wi-Fi (optional), RS-232 and configurable RS-422/RS-485 interfaces support integration with a wide range of existing equipment.
Automatic switching between cellular and Iridium Certus 100 satellite networks helps keep operational data flowing when cellular coverage is weak or unavailable.
Bring Visibility and Control Beyond Cellular Coverage
For visibility, automation, and control across assets that may be widely dispersed or beyond reliable cellular coverage, extending the communications infrastructure can entail high costs, time, and manpower.
RockREMOTE connects existing PLCs, RTUs, sensors and SCADA systems extending telemetry and control into remote locations without replacing existing infrastructure.
Its processing capacity and support for both IP and message based communications enable applications such as power generation reporting, machinery failure alerts, remote site assessment and operational data analysis. Supporting faster response, reducing site visits and helping to make better decisions using data in real time from across your operations.
RockREMOTE Hardware Comparison
 RockREMOTE Mini OEM
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 RockREMOTE Mini
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 RockREMOTE Rugged
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RockREMOTE
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| Best Fit | Embedded into mobile or fixed equipment with a customer supplied enclosure | Mobile or fixed deployments | Mobile, tracking or fixed outdoor deployments | Fixed equipment in enclosed or sheltered installations |
| Form Factor | Integrator PCB assembly | Aluminum enclosure | Aluminum enclosure | Steel enclosure |
| Mounting | Optional brackets for bulkhead or pole mounting | Fixing holes for screw mounting or band clamps for pole mounting | Pre-drilled fixing holes, with optional brackets for bulkhead or pole mounting | Desktop placement on rubber feet or IEC/EN 60715 DIN rail mounting |
| Dimensions | 155.8 × 77.2 × 42.5 mm | 166.5 x 74.5 x 51.5mm | 250 × 97 × 61 mm | 193.3 × 120.3 × 117 mm |
| Weight | 288g | 646g | 1.2 kg | 1.263 kg |
| Environmental | None (no case) | IP66 | IP67 | IP5x for indoor or sheltered use |
| Power Consumption | <30mW sleep, <0.25W idle, <7.5W average transmit | <30mW sleep, <0.25W idle, <7.5W average transmit | 0 W sleep, 5 W idle, 9 W average transmit | 0 W sleep, 5 W idle, 9 W average transmit |
| Satellite Connectivity | Certus 100 IP at 22/88 Kbps and IMT messages up to 100 KB | Certus 100 IP at 22/88 Kbps and IMT messages up to 100 KB | Certus 100 IP at 22/88 Kbps and IMT messages up to 100 KB | Certus 100 IP at 22/88 Kbps and IMT messages up to 100 KB |
| Cellular Connectivity | No | No | LTE Cat 1 and Cat 4 with automatic WAN failover | LTE Cat 1 and Cat 4 with automatic WAN failover |
| GNSS | Multi constellation GNSS with U.FL antenna connection; optional SMA | Multi constellation GNSS with SMA antenna connection | Multi constellation GNSS with SMA antenna connection | Multi constellation GNSS with SMA antenna connection |
| Interfaces | Ethernet (available on pin out), Serial RS232, RS485, GPIO (2 x I, 2 x O) | Ethernet, Serial RS232, RS485, GPIO (2 x I, 2 x O) | Ethernet,Serial RS232, RS485, optional Wi-Fi | Ethernet, Serial RS232, RS485/RS422, optional Wi-Fi |
| Voice | No | No | Optional single SIP voice channel with Land Mobile certification | No |
| Bluetooth | BLE smartphone configuration supported | BLE 5.0 | No | No |
| MQTT & FTP Facades | ||||
| View Product | View Product | View Product | Buy Online |
Energy and Renewables
Provide resilient communications for substations, generation sites and energy storage systems while supporting remote monitoring, diagnostics and control of critical equipment.
Utilities
Connect remote pumping stations, reservoirs and treatment sites to SCADA systems while maintaining access to PLCs, RTUs and alarms when cellular coverage is unreliable.
Industrial Operations
Extend existing PLC, RTU and SCADA networks into remote facilities while providing resilient access to operational data, alarms and control systems.
Transport and Infrastructure
Maintain communications with signalling, roadside and trackside control equipment while supporting remote status reporting, diagnostics and faster fault response.
Mining and Quarrying
Connect protected control systems across remote mining and processing sites while enabling machinery monitoring, fault alerts and remote diagnostics.
Oil and Gas
Extend telemetry and control to remote production, pipeline and storage facilities while maintaining visibility of alarms, equipment status and operational data.
Technical Essentials
Review these headline specifications to assess RockREMOTE’s fit with your equipment, installation environment and connectivity requirements.
22 Kbps Up / 88 Kbps Down
Use Certus 100 IP connectivity for SCADA, remote monitoring and applications that require an IP connection.
Automatic LTE to Satellite Failover
Use LTE Cat 1 or Cat 4 where available, automatically switching to Iridium Certus 100 when cellular coverage is unavailable.
1 Byte to 100 KB per IMT Message
Exchange compact status updates or larger payloads through efficient message-based satellite communications.
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Serial and GPIO
Connect PLCs, RTUs and industrial equipment through Ethernet, Wi-Fi (optional), RS-232, configurable RS-422/RS-485 and eight isolated GPIOs.
10–30 V DC Input
Connect RockREMOTE to common industrial DC power systems in fixed and enclosed installations.
Remote Device Management
Configure, monitor and troubleshoot deployed terminals remotely through Cloudloop Device Manager.
IP5x, -40°C to +70°C
Designed for control cabinets and sheltered industrial environments across a broad operating temperature range.
Desktop or DIN Rail Mounting
Install RockREMOTE on rubberised feet or an industry-standard IEC/EN 60715 DIN rail.
Product Specifications
Interfaces and Integration
- Ethernet Interface
- One RJ45 Ethernet connection
- Serial Interfaces
- One RS-232 port and one configurable RS-422/RS-485 port supporting full or half-duplex operation
- GPIO
- Eight isolated fixed-function GPIOs comprising four open drain outputs and four digital inputs with internal pull-ups
- SIM Cards
- Two standard 2FF SIM slots for Iridium satellite and cellular services
- Local Configuration
- Browser based management interface available over the local network
- Local APIs
- REST APIs provide access to connection status, system information, GNSS information and Iridium Messaging Transport functions
- Remote Management
- Cloudloop Device Manager supports remote configuration, status monitoring, diagnostics, alerts and software updates.3
- Cloudloop Services
- Cloudloop Subscription Manager provides visibility of device status, airtime and usage. Device Manager supports remote configuration, diagnostics and OTA updates, while Cloudloop Data routes messages into customer systems and cloud services.
Compute, Security and Data Handling
- Linux-Based Platform
- The Linux-based operating system powers local networking, MQTT, data handling and device management functions, supporting more advanced industrial communications at the edge.
- Hardware Security
- A dedicated hardware security module supports encryption of data before it is transmitted.
Communications
- Satellite Network
- Iridium
- Iridium Transceiver
- Iridium Certus 9770
- Satellite Services
- Iridium Certus 100 IP data and Iridium Messaging Transport
- Communication Type
- Two way IP or message-based satellite communication
- Certus 100 Data Rate
- 22 Kbps upload and 88 Kbps download
- IMT Message Size
- Flexible payloads from 1 to 100,000 bytes
- Cellular Connectivity
- LTE Cat 1 and Cat 4, with region specific variants
- Automatic WAN Failover
- Automatically switches between LTE cellular and Iridium satellite connectivity according to the configured routing strategy
- Wi-Fi (optional)
- 2.4 GHz wireless LAN connectivity
- GNSS
- Multi constellation GNSS positioning through an external antenna connection
- MQTT IoT Gateway
- Connected equipment can publish data to a local MQTT broker, which packages and transmits messages over IMT through Cloudloop.
- Message Buffering and Delivery
- Automatic queuing, message batching, transmission retries and optional compression help maintain delivery and use satellite data efficiently.
- FTP Over IMT
- Files received through the local FTP service can be compressed and transferred over IMT
Antenna and Power
- Iridium Antenna
- External approved passive omnidirectional antenna with no pointing required
- Iridium Antenna Connection
- TNC connector for an external Iridium antenna
- Iridium Antenna Cable
- Maximum 9 m cable length
- GNSS Antenna Connection
- SMA connection for an external GNSS antenna
- Cellular Antenna Connection
- SMA connection for an external LTE antenna
- Wi-Fi Antenna Connection
- Reverse polarity SMA connection
- Input Voltage
- 10–30 V DC
- Power Consumption
- 0.2 W sleep, 5 W idle and 9 W average transmit
- Sleep Control
- Dedicated sleep control through the power connector
- Power Cable
- One 1 m power cable with terminal block connector
Physical and Environmental
- Form Factor
- Fully enclosed dual-mode industrial communications gateway for fixed and sheltered installations
- Dimensions
- 193.3 × 120.3 × 117 mm (7.61 × 4.74 × 4.61 in)
- Weight
- 1.263 kg (2.78 lb)
- Enclosure Material
- Steel casing
- Ingress Protection
- IP5x dust protection
- Operating Temperature
- -40°C to +70°C (-40°F to +158°F)
- Installation Environment
- Designed for indoor installation or use within a clean, dry and environmentally protected enclosure
- Mounting
- Desktop placement on rubberised feet or IEC/EN 60715 DIN rail mounting
Regulatory
- Satellite Certification
- Iridium Certus 100 IoT certified
- Product Compliance
- CE and FCC compliant
Developer Support
RockREMOTE is supported by detailed installation, configuration and operation documentation. A browser based management console provides local setup and diagnostic tools, while REST APIs give connected equipment access to network status, system information, GNSS data and raw IMT messaging.
The integrated IoT gateway translates local MQTT traffic into efficient IMT messages, while FTP over IMT supports compressed file transfers. Cloudloop Device Manager provides remote configuration, diagnostics, monitoring and OTA software updates, helping teams manage deployed terminals without routine site visits.
FAQs
Iridium Certus is a TCP/IP based service enabling a bi-directional ‘always on’ connection between field assets and a back end solution.
Typical power consumption is 1.5 amp average with 4 amp peak. Actual power usage will be heavily dependent on how the RockREMOTE device is being used in terms of how the processing unit is utilized for any applications, and the frequency of network communications.
Security is made up of a number of elements within the RockREMOTE solution. The network security is offered through VPN connections both from the satellite ground station to the land network connection, then from there to the customer site. This is further enhanced though the availability of the inbuilt hardware security module which can encrypt the data before being sent over the network, ensuring that, even if accessed along the way, data is unusable to anyone who has accessed it.
RockREMOTE powers up and can start to send data within 90 seconds from cold start.
If network connectivity is lost, RockREMOTE will automatically re-acquire connectivity to either Satellite or Cellular networks.
RockREMOTE will auto-restart and return to its previous state after a power outage. It will automatically restore an active Iridium or cellular connection, for example.
For full details, please review our RockREMOTE developer docs. Establishing a connection from sleep mode is not too much quicker than turning on from cold (sleep to connection in just under a minute vs. 90 seconds from cold) but does give the benefit of keeping the caps charged and the RTC running. For applications where power is limited, it may be preferable to install a switch or relay from the logger.
Iridium Messaging Transport (IMT) uses the Certus 100 service; the plans are the same price and have the data allowance regardless of whether you’re using IMT, a message-based protocol, or Certus 100, a TCP/IP-based protocol. However, the cost of sending your data via IMT is going to be substantially lower than sending your data via Certus 100. This is because there is no TCP/IP overhead in a message-based service; you only send your data payload. That said, IMT is more technically involved to implement.
If you send your data via Certus 100, as an IP-based service, it’s highly interoperable with your existing software, and integration will be simple. If you send your data via IMT, you’ll need to “chop it up” first, and reassemble it at the far end. If you can do this, it’s a far more cost-effective way of sending data, but needs some programming skill. We’re here to help so just get in touch if you’d like some advice on this, or representative costs for using IMT over Certus 100.
Use of the MQTT broker service is included as long as you have an active Certus device activated with us using IMT (Iridium Messaging Transport). IMT messages are taken from the device allowance in bytes (but are much more efficient due to no TCP/IP overhead).
We recommend using our MQTT broker if using IMT over RockREMOTE as then we can support your implementation fully. More details on Cloudloop MQTT here: www.docs.groundcontrol.com/iot/rockremote.
Discuss Your Remote Connectivity Requirements
Planning a new telemetry deployment or extending connectivity to existing PLCs, RTUs and SCADA systems?
Talk to our team about your interfaces, coverage, data requirements and installation environment to confirm whether RockREMOTE is the right fit.
Complete our online form or email hello@groundcontrol.com, and we’ll be in touch within one working day.