Iridium, L3Harris Partner for Enhanced FAA Network Reliability

Iridium Communications has signed a five-year agreement with L3Harris Technologies to provide its Satellite Time and Location service.

The service will be deployed across more than three dozen L3Harris-operated network backbone nodes and various Federal Aviation Administration facilities nationwide, Iridium said.

Iridium’s STL service will enhance timing synchronization within L3Harris’ communications network, providing essential resiliency for critical infrastructure applications and offering an alternative to GPS.

The solution includes compact devices, supplied by Adtran’s Oscilloquartz division, which receive Iridium STL signals and facilitate precise network timing synchronization across the country.

Modern communication networks and applications demand precise timing to function optimally. Iridium said its STL solution ensures networks remain operational and in sync, even across distributed systems such as data centers separated by vast distances, which are highly sensitive to delays.

Christina Riley, vice president and general manager of Iridium’s commercial resilient time and location division, noted that STL solutions offer cost-effective resiliency in environments where GPS is compromised, ensuring uninterrupted, high-performance operations for both L3Harris and the FAA.