Real-Time Iridium Satellite Vessel Tracking Service Launched

The final six payloads for a second-generation constellation, exactView RT, are now operational, which completes the roll-out of world’s first global, real-time satellite-AIS service. The company expects the service to enable a wide variety of new service capabilities for the global maritime community and to contribute over the next 15 years or more to the improvement of maritime safety, commerce, navigation, environmental management and security.

exactView RT consists of 58 operational payloads and seven orbital spares that were designed and built by Harris Corporation and are hosted onboard the Iridium NEXT constellation of satellites, which is owned and operated by Iridium Communications Inc. The Iridium NEXT satellites were deployed over a series of eight successful launches completed in less than two years and are the result of Iridium’s approximately $3 billion investment to replace its original satellite system.

exactView RT’s advanced maritime payloads cover the entire maritime VHF radio band and leverage the cross-linked architecture of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation to deliver AIS and other vessel-based VHF data services from any vessel anywhere on the globe, relaying that data securely to customers in real time. exactView RT tracks a population of more than 500,000 unique vessels worldwide and generates average global revisit rates and average latency rates of less than one minute. —exactEarth Ltd.


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