Iridium communication system for data telemetry of renewable distributed generation system

Distributed generation (DG) is formulated using small, modular electricity generator sites close to the customer load. Often based on renewable technologies, the aggregate operation capabilities of these power generators are monitored by an energy control center (ECC) using telemetric information from the individual sources. This forms the basis of DG dispatchability. This necessitates the design of a low-cost communication system for the required telemetry. The Iridium satellite system is able to provide global communications at a reasonable cost and thus can provide flexible communication links where alternative technologies are not available. This paper discusses the development of an Iridium satellite system, which has a low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, with 9601 short burst data (SBD) transceiver, for data telemetry functions.