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Iridium Communications is working with T-Mobile to on a broad network deployment of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services, starting with live-site activations across the United States. The deployments will deliver 5G network complementary timing synchronization to strengthen the cellular network’s resilience and help ensure reliability for customers.
The project follows Iridium’s selection by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for an award through its Complementary PNT Action Plan Rapid Phase Award II.
The U.S. Department of Transportation CPNT Action Plan is designed to evaluate mature and commercially available CPNT technologies to strengthen PNT resilience and enhance the safety of critical infrastructure, like 5G networks. DOT is the U.S. government’s civil lead for PNT.
Under the contract, T-Mobile will expand its installation of Iridium PNT receivers to 90 additional live 5G network sites in geographically diverse locations. Iridium PNT will help protect against GPS disruptions that cause downtime and compromise the data integrity and performance of 5G networks, which rely on coordinated, precise timing to deliver the necessary speed, capacity and reliability of service to end-users.
T-Mobile will also perform nominal and adverse user equipment exercises at its indoor testing range. It has the necessary wireless infrastructure for DOT, Iridium, and T-Mobile to observe and record results.
Capable of sub-100-nanosecond accuracy — better than a millionth of a second — and secured using cryptographic techniques, Iridium PNT signals are 1,000 times stronger than GNSS systems like GPS and work inside buildings with no need for an outdoor antenna. The service is delivered by Iridium’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which provides global weather-resilient L-band connectivity.
