RockBLOCK Pro OEM
RockBLOCK Pro OEM
RockBLOCK Pro OEM
RockBLOCK Pro OEM

Description

RockBLOCK Pro OEM is the board-level version of RockBLOCK Pro, built for teams integrating Iridium Messaging Transport into their own products.

 

It gives your device two way satellite messaging over the Iridium network, with IMT 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 message queueing, retries, and network interaction, reducing the amount of modem management your host application needs to handle. It runs the same firmware as the enclosed RockBLOCK Pro and uses the same Cloudloop device management workflow.

 

The OEM assembly is supplied as a PCB with mounting frame, with essential non-RF connections brought out through a single 30-way header. It's designed for integration into your own enclosure, power system, antenna path, and host hardware.

 

RockBLOCK Pro OEM supports RS232 or RS485 serial integration, depending on the configuration supplied. 

Key Features

  • PCB assembly with mounting frame for integration into your own enclosure
  • 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
  • Integrated GNSS with concurrent reception across BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, and QZSS
  • Single 30-way header for essential non-RF connections
  • USB-C serial port and mass storage file system for development and configuration
  • Four configurable I/O channels: 0-10V analog input, open-drain digital output, or dry-contact digital input
  • BLE 5.0 for local configuration and status.

Tech Specifications

  • Satellite service: Iridium Messaging Transport, IMT
  • Message size: 10 to 100,000 bytes
  • GNSS: concurrent reception of 4 GNSS, with BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, and QZSS support
  • Serial interface: RS485 or RS232, depending on supplied configuration
  • Command interface: proprietary serial API and AT command set
  • I/O: 4 configurable channels for 0-10V analog input, open-drain digital output, or dry-contact digital input
  • Main connector: single 30-way 2x15 2.0 mm pitch header for essential non-RF connections
  • Power input: 5-30V DC via system header, or 5V via USB-C
  • Power consumption: 2.5W maximum, <200mW idle, <75mW sleep
  • Antenna connection: SMA connector; approved combined Iridium and GNSS antenna required
  • Ingress rating: not ingress rated; supplied without environmental housing
  • Operating temperature: -40°C to +65°C, <95% RH
  • Dimensions: 104 × 65 × 29 mm; 104 × 82 × 29 mm including mounting feet
  • Weight: 108 g, excluding cables and antenna.

Cloudloop Platform

RockBLOCK Pro OEM works with Cloudloop for the network side parts of your integration: message routing, device management, airtime management, and usage monitoring.

Cloudloop Data delivers IMT messages into your own systems using webhooks, APIs, MQTT, email, or cloud integrations. Cloudloop Subscription Manager helps you monitor usage, manage billing, set alerts, and control service status across deployed devices.
Explore Cloudloop

Resources / Quick Links

RockBLOCK Pro OEM

FP-RB-PRO-OEM

$600.00
$600.00
Sale Sold out
Taxes included.
Inquire

Frequently Asked questions

The board is fitted with an SMA connector profile and requires an approved external antenna combining both Iridium and GNSS elements. Antennas and RF coaxial feed cables are available as independent accessories.

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/.

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.

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.

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.

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.