Iridium Communications is set to introduce a compact chip in the coming year aimed at protecting devices that depend on navigation satellites from the threats of jamming and spoofing. This move strengthens the company’s position in the L-band market, especially as SpaceX’s Starlink expands into related sectors. On October 27, the company announced the start of partner testing for a small chip designed for direct integration into various products, from mobile phones to critical infrastructure like power grids. This would allow them to utilize positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) signals from its constellation of 66 low Earth orbit satellites.
The Iridium PNT ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) will commercialize a capability already offered through external receivers, delivering authenticated time and location data significantly stronger than GPS signals, up to 1,000 times, without requiring extra hardware. Iridium’s service is also functional indoors, where GPS signals are often inaccessible. “This is a first. To provide this type of capability on a global basis has never been done before,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “The size, low cost, and scalability of this solution to protect GPS is a major breakthrough.”
The commercial launch of the Iridium PNT ASIC is scheduled for mid-2026, following beta testing with early adopters. The company highlighted recent incidents that emphasize the increasing need for better protection of GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations. These include the spoofing of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft navigation system in September, and GNSS disruptions off Qatar that temporarily disrupted maritime operations earlier this month. Iridium also referenced an aviation safety report from OPSGROUP last year, which noted a 500% rise in the spoofing of commercial airliners, with around 1,500 commercial flights experiencing GPS spoofing daily.
“GPS and GNSS were never designed to be secure in the consumer sense,” said Iridium vice president of commercial PNT Rohit Braggs during a media briefing. “They were never designed to be resilient, and yet we built an entire digital economy on top of them. It’s like building a skyscraper on a sandcastle.” He further emphasized how “GPS and GNSS vulnerabilities have become a front line in modern hybrid warfare” given the rise in sophisticated cyberattacks.
Last year, Iridium acquired Satelles, a company that had been broadcasting timing and location signals since 2016 through a channel previously used by Iridium satellites for paging. The company’s PNT services are becoming increasingly vital to its long-term strategy amidst growing competition from Starlink, a provider of broadband services. Last week, Iridium revised its service revenue forecast downward and suspended share buybacks to focus on long-term growth prospects, citing Starlink’s $17 billion spectrum acquisition from EchoStar as a potential threat to specific areas of its business. Analysts predict that alternative PNT is a rapidly expanding market, expected to reach $3.5 billion by 2032. Other firms like Xona Space Systems are also developing satellites to capitalize on this opportunity.