Iridium Certus 100 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 utilised for any applications, and the frequency of network communications.

RockREMOTE provides support for cellular as well at satellite connectivity and offers functionality that extends beyond a pure connectivity solution. Although NB IoT will improve and extend the capabilities of cellular for IoT, it still requires access to the terrestrial cellular networks to operate reliably. For truly remote, reliable connectivity, a hybrid approach provides the most reliable method to guarantee connection.

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.

Using the combination of the Certus 100 LEO network and the Omnidirectional antenna, line of sight issues are significantly reduced. The antenna will automatically locate the satellite as opposed to having to be specifically pointed at a geostationary satellite. The solution still requires a good view of the sky.

Installation time is dependant on how / where the device and antenna are being mounted. If a DIN rail mount is already correctly located, with power and connections in place to the required measure devices, the RockREMOTE unit installation can be completed in a matter of minutes. The activity that will require greater consideration will be the external mounting of the antenna and the routing of the antenna cable.

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, an 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 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: https://docs.rockremote.io/config/iot.