Iridium Integration / Gateway

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Asterisk Users 7 Comments

Hi list,

I have a request to integrate Iridium in a Asterisk system. A quick search didn’t return much: I expected to find products similar to GSM
gateways, but this does not seem to exist. so I’d be very interested about possible solutions. Has it be done already, how?

Thanks,
—
Jean-Denis Girard

SysNux Systèmes Linux en Polynésie française https://www.sysnux.pf/ Tél: +689 40.50.10.40 / GSM: +689 87.797.527

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7 thoughts on - Iridium Integration / Gateway

  • Thanks for reply, but this is irrelevant, I’m looking for an *Iridium*
    gateway.

    Regards,
    —
    Jean-Denis Girard

    SysNux Systèmes Linux en Polynésie française https://www.sysnux.pf/ Tél: +689 40.50.10.40 / GSM: +689 87.797.527

    Le 03/04/2018 à 16:05, albert zhang a écrit :

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  • Hi, I use an Iridium 9555 handset and a “POTSdock”.

    This takes a standard 9555 handset, gives it a fixed antenna mount, and a telco service jack. Interfacing to the POTSdock, is a matter of providing an analog POTS interface as if you were attaching to a standard POTS phone provider. The dock generated standard dial-tone and DTMF control. Iridium provides a test phone number you can make calls from, and there are serial commands you can issue to the handset to get service status, and account information, or Iridium voicemail status. Be aware that rates are and order or two or three of magnitude higher than most POTS providers. Minutes can be in the multiple USD each range.

    I generally do my VoIP as a cost routing:
    1st, Cable modem (unlimited data, business internet)
    2nd, Cellular Data (data unlimited to 25GB/month, then rate reduced to
    5GB/month rate)
    3rd, Cellular Voice (unlimited minutes, lower voice quality due to CODEC change)
    4th, Iridium Voice (expensive minutes, lowest voice quality due to CODEC change, very high voice lag 1-3 seconds, more likely to work while everything else is down locally)

    If you want to roll your own embedded VoIP system, the Iridium 9523
    modem engine is available as a module at retail, and takes the same basic serial commands to establish voice or data calls. The development manuals are available with a Google search. Be aware that FCC or ITU certification is required if you embed an RF module in an end product – which is why I went the POTSdock route.

    I also use the SBD modem modules (both 9603 and 9602) to do basic telemetry and status reporting when conventional network access is limited. The rates for sending a partial packet of data are very reasonable, and you can message from modem directly to another modem without traversing the commercial internet or phone infrastructure. Very useful for rebooting a remote router that has crashed and is blocking phone or internet access. 😉

    If you’ve been following the news, SpaceX has been lofting the IridiumNEXT constellation to replace the legacy constellation from the
    1990’s (STILL running a good 20 years past design life) – and they are expecting to modernize their subscriber equipment and rate plans. They have three more launches to get the complete replacement constellation in orbit, and they will be fixing the periodic dead spots in their network as a result.

    I can try to answer questions on my use case.

    Best,

    -Tim

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  • Hi Harry,

    Yes, it seems to be what I was looking for.

    Thanks,
    —
    Jean-Denis Girard

    SysNux Systèmes Linux en Polynésie française https://www.sysnux.pf/ Tél: +689 40.50.10.40 / GSM: +689 87.797.527

    Le 03/04/2018 à 22:25, Harry McGregor a écrit :

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  • Hi Tim,

    The PotsDOCK is what I was looking for. I’ll propose that to my customer.

    My use case is an airway company, who needs Iridium for safety reasons, but does not want to be stuck with only one handset, so the idea is to connect the handset to the asterisk PBX, so they can call from any desk phone.

    Many thanks for detailed answer.

    Best regards,
    —
    Jean-Denis Girard

    SysNux Systèmes Linux en Polynésie française https://www.sysnux.pf/ Tél: +689 40.50.10.40 / GSM: +689 87.797.527

    Le 03/04/2018 à 20:25, Tim S a écrit :

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