RockBLOCK Pro
RockBLOCK Pro
RockBLOCK Pro
RockBLOCK Pro

Description

RockBLOCK Pro offers a more integrated route into Iridium Messaging Transport. It gives your system two way satellite messaging over the Iridium network, with payloads from 10 bytes up to 100 KB. Use it when SBD message sizes are too small, but you still want a message-based satellite link rather than full IP connectivity.

 

The onboard processor handles the parts you may not want to rebuild: message queues, retries, and network management. Your host can talk to RockBLOCK Pro over RS232, RS485, or USB-C using the serial API, with support for familiar 9603-style AT commands where that helps migration from older RockBLOCK deployments.

 

RockBLOCK Pro also gives you GNSS, BLE configuration, and four configurable I/O channels for analog input, digital input, or open-drain output. It's built into an IP66 aluminum enclosure, with 5-30V DC input, USB-C power, and low power modes for remote systems running from battery or solar.

 

Choose RockBLOCK Pro when you want larger IMT messages, onboard handling of the satellite workflow, configurable I/O, and a field-ready enclosure. Choose RockBLOCK 9704 if you want the smaller board-level module for your own enclosure, or RockBLOCK Plus 9704 if you need a simpler sealed IMT device with GNSS over RS-232.

Key Features

  • Iridium Messaging Transport for two way satellite messages from 10 bytes to 100 KB
  • Onboard queueing, retries, and network management, so your host doesn't have to manage the modem workflow
  • IP66 aluminum enclosure for outdoor field deployments
  • Integrated GNSS with BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, and QZSS support
  • Four configurable I/O channels: 0–10V analog input, open-drain digital output, or dry-contact digital input
  • RS232 or RS485 serial integration, with proprietary serial API and support for legacy 9603-style AT commands
  • USB-C for serial access and mass storage configuration
  • Low power operation, with <200mW idle and <75mW sleep mode.

Tech Specifications

  • Dimensions: 121 × 75 × 57 mm; 188 × 91 × 57 mm including antenna, connectors, and mounting foot
  • Weight: 400 g with built-in antenna; 388 g for SMA version
  • Satellite service: Iridium Messaging Transport, IMT
  • Message size: 10 to 100,000 bytes
  • Typical latency: under 10 seconds between remote and cloud applications
  • Interfaces: RS232 or RS485, plus USB-C
  • USB-C: serial port and mass-storage file system
  • Power input: 5-30V DC via 2m 12-core cable, or 5V via USB-C
  • Power consumption: 2.5W maximum, <200mW idle, <75mW sleep
  • Antenna options: built-in antenna version or SMA version for approved external antenna
  • GNSS: BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, and QZSS
  • Bluetooth: BLE 5.0 for configuration and status
  • I/O: 4 configurable channels for 0-10V analog input, open-drain digital output, or dry-contact digital input
  • Enclosure: aluminum
  • Ingress rating: IP66
  • Operating temperature: -40°C to +65°C, <95% RH.

Cloudloop Platform

RockBLOCK Pro works with Cloudloop for message delivery, device management, airtime management, and usage monitoring.

Cloudloop Data routes IMT messages from your device into your own systems using webhooks, APIs, MQTT, email, or cloud integrations such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. It gives you a managed route from satellite message to application, without needing to build the network side plumbing yourself.

Cloudloop Subscription Manager helps you manage deployed devices, monitor usage, set alerts, and control service status from one account. Use it to keep track of airtime, billing, and operational activity across your RockBLOCK Pro devices.
Explore Cloudloop

Resources / Quick Links

RockBLOCK Pro

FP-RB-PRO-ANT

$870.00
$870.00
Sale Sold out
Taxes included.
Antenna type
Inquire

Frequently Asked questions

Airtime is purchased separately from the hardware.

When your IMT device arrives, register it online at the Cloudloop Console. You can buy message credits, manage your device, and start sending messages without speaking to sales.

If you prefer post-pay airtime, contact our team at hello@groundcontrol.com and we can switch your account over.

You can find PAYG and post-pay airtime rates at https://www.groundcontrol.com/products/iridium-messaging-transport-imt-pricing/.

Not directly. RockBLOCK 9603 uses Iridium SBD, while RockBLOCK Pro uses Iridium Messaging Transport.

RockBLOCK Pro / Pro OEM does support familiar 9603-style AT commands for some workflows, which can help with migration, but the service, message size, and integration model are different. It's best treated as an upgrade path for applications that have outgrown SBD message sizes.

Both use Iridium Messaging Transport and support messages up to 100 KB.

RockBLOCK Plus 9704 is a simpler sealed IMT device with GNSS and RS-232 interfaces. RockBLOCK Pro adds onboard queueing and retries, configurable I/O, BLE setup, a wider integration interface, and more local device logic.

All three use Iridium Messaging Transport, or IMT, and support message-based satellite payloads up to 100 KB. The difference is how much of the product integration is already handled for you.

RockBLOCK 9704 is the compact board-level module. Choose it if you're building your own enclosure, host interface, power design, antenna arrangement, and application logic around the 9704 hardware.

RockBLOCK Pro OEM is the embedded version of RockBLOCK Pro. It adds onboard message queueing, retries, network management, GNSS, configurable I/O, USB-C, BLE, and Cloudloop device management, but is still supplied as a PCB assembly for integration into your own product.

RockBLOCK Pro is the finished field device. It takes the Pro OEM capability and packages it in an IP66 aluminum enclosure, with integrated antenna or SMA antenna options, serial integration, USB-C, GNSS, configurable I/O, and low power operation.

Choose RockBLOCK 9704 when you want the smallest board-level route into IMT. Choose RockBLOCK Pro OEM when you want Pro-level message handling and I/O inside your own product. Choose RockBLOCK Pro when you want a finished outdoor device that can be mounted and integrated with less hardware design work.

In ideal conditions, an already powered device can complete an Iridium IMT message session in around 10 seconds. That assumes a clear view of the sky, good antenna placement, and a successful session on the first attempt.


We wouldn't 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. Larger messages will also take longer to transmit than very small payloads.

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. IMT is well suited to larger telemetry packets, batched sensor data, logs, configuration files, and other message-based payloads, but it should not be treated as a fixed-interval real time link.

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

Yes. RockBLOCK Pro and RockBLOCK Pro OEM both include integrated GNSS, so they can collect position data and send it over Iridium Messaging Transport.

That makes them suitable for asset tracking, equipment monitoring, vessel reporting, vehicle reporting, autonomous system telemetry, and other applications where location needs to be sent alongside status, sensor, or diagnostic data.

They are not fixed-function trackers, though. Your application or Cloudloop configuration still needs to define when position is recorded, how often data is transmitted, what else is included in each message, and where the data is delivered.

Choose the enclosed RockBLOCK Pro if you want a finished field device. Choose RockBLOCK Pro OEM if you want to build the same tracking capability into your own product or enclosure.