Iridium Repeater Kits

Iridium repeater kits come with all the parts needed for a successful installation apart from the optical fiber.

Fiber can be supplied, cut to the correct length and terminated with the appropriate connectors.

Option 1 – extends distance from antenna to indoors by <3Km

The outdoor unit (ODU) and indoor unit (IDU) can be connected to existing optical patch panels, or directly connected with a dedicated length of optical fibre.

Optical fibre is available with pre-installed connectors – FalTech can advise and source fibre for you, or put you in touch with an experienced optical fibre vendor.

Each kit contains:

• Two Iridium outdoor antennas
• IP65-rated optical outdoor unit (ODU)
• Rack-mounted 19″ 1u optical indoor unit (IDU)
• Two ceiling-mounted indoor antennas

More indoor antennas can be added by installing signal splitters and coaxial cables.

Option 2 – coaxial cable only – ideal for aircraft hangars

For situations where physical separation of >3Km is not required.

Outdoor unit (ODU) and indoor unit (IDU) now combined into one enclosure with no optical fiber interfaces.

Each kit contains:

• Two Iridium outdoor antennas
• IP65-rated repeater unit
• Two ceiling-mounted indoor antennas

Up to 5,000 ft2 of hangar space can be covered by a single system with a ceiling height of 130 ft.

Iridium Optical repeater specifications

Downlink

• Frequency range: 1616 – 1626.5 MHz
• ODU Input/IDU output VSWR:   1:1.6
• ODU RF input signal range [total power]: up to -20dBm
• Downlink Gain: >50dB
• Noise Figure: <5dB
• Indoor coverage: >400sqm

Uplink

• Frequency range: 1616 – 1626.5 MHz
• IDU Input/ODU Output VSWR:   1:1.6
• IDU RF Input signal range [total power]: up to 0dBm
• Uplink Gain: >50dB
• Noise Figure: <5dB
• Indoor Coverage: >200sqm

Optical Specifications

• Required fibre type: Dual SMF-28 or equivalent [single mode]
• Optical wavelength: 1310 ±10nm
• IDU/ODU optical power output: -3dBm / 0.5mW (Min)
• Optical connector: SC/APC or FC/APC
• Fibre length: 3Km max (2dB).

Physical Specifications

• RF connectors (IDU): Single SMA Female
• RF connectors (ODU): Dual N-Tpe Female
• Dimensions (IDU): 19” Wide 1U Chassis
• Dimensions (ODU): 14″ × 6″ × 3″
• Operating temperature (IDU):-20 to +55° C
• Operting temperatures (ODU): -30 to +55° C

Iridium Communications Inc. is a Virginia, USA-based company that provides a truly global voice and data communications service via the world’s largest commercial satellite constellation.

The Iridium network provides high-quality voice and data connections over the entire surface of the planet – across continents, oceans, airways and even the polar regions.

The constellation consists of 66 cross-linked, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (plus six in-orbit spares), operating as a fully-meshed network.

This comprehensive coverage footprint provides a highly dependable, critical communication lifeline to a wide variety of users the world over.

The graphic illustrates how the 66 satellites achieve global coverage, at a height of approximately 483 miles above the Earth’s surface.

There are 11 satellites in each of 6 orbital planes, with orbits roughly “crisscrossing” above the north and south poles.

Iridium network: facts and figures:

• Satellites are travelling at 17,000 miles per hour, completing an orbit of the Earth in about 100 minutes.
• The time taken to cross the sky from horizon to horizon is approximately 10 minutes.
• Each fast-moving satellite communicates with adjacent satellites in front, behind and alongside its own orbit.
• Each satellite can project 48 spot beams on to the Earth’s surface; the size of each spot beam is approximately 250 miles in diameter.
• The satellite’s 48-beam footprint is around 2,800 miles in diameter.
• All spot beams and satellite footprints overlap, which is ultimately what provides the seamless global coverage.

However, use of Iridium devices indoors is very difficult, if not impossible, without sky-view.  This is where an Iridium repeater kit plays a very important role in a number of different applications.

Iridium repeaters enable transmission of Iridium and GPS signals from outdoor to indoor.

This video explains the installation process for Iridium and GPS optical repeaters and the basic functionality of the system.