NEW
Iridium 9604

Description

Iridium 9604 is a compact hybrid IoT module combining Iridium SBD satellite messaging, LTE-M cellular, and integrated GNSS in a single 96-pin LGA package.

 

It's built for product teams designing their own connected hardware: trackers, remote sensors, industrial devices, mobile assets, compact safety devices, and equipment that needs a cellular-first path with satellite available when terrestrial coverage disappears.

 

This isn't a plug-and-play developer board. It's the bare modem module, intended for engineers who are ready to design around power, RF, antennas, SIM/eSIM, firmware, enclosure, manufacturing, and certification requirements.

 

The payoff is a very small module with a lot packed in: Iridium SBD for global satellite messaging, LTE-M for lower-cost cellular IoT, and GNSS for position data. Your application controls when to use cellular and when to use satellite, so you can build the failover logic that makes sense for your product.

 

Iridium 9604 is sold in multi-unit quantities, with a minimum order of 10 units through this shop. If you need a single device route for evaluating Iridium SBD, RockBLOCK 9603 is usually the easier starting point. If you need larger satellite payloads, look at RockBLOCK 9704.

Key Features

  • Compact 16 × 26 × 2.4 mm form factor
  • Weight under 3 g
  • 96 pin LGA, SARA-compatible surface mount package
  • Iridium SBD for pole to pole satellite messaging
  • LTE Cat M1 for cellular IoT connectivity
  • Integrated u-blox M10 GNSS receiver
  • Application-controlled switching between cellular and satellite modes
  • Familiar AT command interface
  • Shared Iridium / GNSS antenna interface
  • Separate LTE-M antenna interface
  • External SIM or eSIM required for LTE-M
  • SBD service provisioned by IMEI
  • Supports low power LTE-M modes including PSM and eDRX
  • Suitable for commercial hardware integrations and production designs

Tech Specifications

  • Connectivity: Iridium SBD satellite, LTE-M cellular, integrated GNSS
  • Satellite message size: 340 bytes MO, 270 bytes MT
  • LTE-M: LTE Cat M1, 3GPP Releases 13 and 14
  • LTE-M data rate: up to 1200 kb/s uplink, 588 kb/s downlink
  • GNSS: integrated u-blox M10; GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
  • Package: 96-pin LGA, SARA compatible surface mount module
  • Dimensions: 16.0 × 26.0 × 2.4 mm
  • Weight: <3 g
  • Power supply: 3.8 V nominal, 3.0 V to 4.5 V range
  • Low power modes: 1 µA LTE-M PSM current, 180 µA LTE eDRX current
  • Interfaces: UART, GPIO, I2C, diagnostic USB
  • SIM: 1.8 V / 3.0 V external SIM or eSIM for LTE-M
  • Antenna interfaces: shared Iridium / GNSS antenna, separate LTE-M antenna
  • Operating temperature: -40°C to +85°C
  • Regulatory and conformance: FCC, ISED, CE-RED, UKCA, GCF, PTCRB, ITU GMPCS-MOU

Cloudloop Platform

Iridium 9604 can be used with Ground Control airtime, APIs, and Cloudloop services.

Cloudloop Data moves Iridium SBD messages from your devices into the systems your team already uses. Messages can be routed to destinations such as your web service, HTTP webhook, REST API, MQTT endpoint, cloud platform, storage bucket, queue, dashboard, or customer application.

Cloudloop Subscription Manager handles the operational side: subscriptions, usage monitoring, alerts, billing visibility, suspension, and device status across your deployed devices.
More About CloudloopCloudloop Developer Docs

Resources / Quick Links

Iridium 9604

FP-IRI-9604

Frequently Asked questions

In many cases, yes.

The modem may already have module-level approvals, but your finished device can still need certification depending on how it is integrated, which antenna you use, where it will be sold or deployed, and which satellite or cellular services it uses.

Plan certification work early. If you want to avoid as much of that process as possible, start with RockBLOCK instead.

Iridium 9604 has a shared Iridium / GNSS antenna interface and a separate LTE-M antenna interface.

You'll need to design the antenna system for your product, including antenna selection, placement, matching, cable loss, enclosure materials, and regulatory requirements. GNSS uses the Iridium antenna path, while LTE-M requires its own antenna.

Yes, for LTE-M. Iridium SBD service is provisioned using the module’s Iridium IMEI. LTE-M requires a separate physical SIM or eSIM from your chosen cellular provider. Iridium does not provide hosted cellular SIM service for this module.

Buy the bare module if you are building a commercial hardware product and are ready to manage the integration work yourself.

That includes PCB layout, power supply design, RF design, antenna selection, SIM/eSIM integration, enclosure design, firmware, manufacturing, and certification planning.

Ground Control will be releasing a RockBLOCK 9604 that takes care of these requirements in Q4 2026.

No. Iridium 9604 is sold through this shop in multiples of 10.

If you need a single-unit route for testing Iridium SBD, RockBLOCK 9603 is likely a better starting point. If you are developing a commercial product around the 9604, the 10 unit pack gives you hardware for prototype builds, RF testing, firmware development, and early certification work.

In ideal conditions, an already-powered device can complete an Iridium SBD session roughly every 10 seconds. That assumes a clear view of the sky, good antenna placement, and a successful session on the first attempt.

We would not recommend designing your application around guaranteed 10 second reporting. In real installations, buildings, terrain, vehicle bodywork, ship structures, trees, antenna placement, RF interference, and satellite movement can all affect how quickly a session completes. A restricted view of the sky can extend transmission time from seconds to minutes.

For most applications, it's better to design around retries and occasional delays. Send when you have data to report, retry quickly if the first attempt fails, then back off to a longer retry interval if needed. SBD is well suited to compact telemetry, alerts, status updates, position reports, and commands, but it shouldn't be treated as a fixed-interval real time link.

As a rule of thumb: 10 seconds is a best case session time, not a guaranteed reporting interval.