McQ Solutions – Operation Arctic Lynx Partner Spotlight
Operation Arctic Lynx (OAL) is a partnership-driven field demonstration of Iridium® and Iridium Connected® technology over a two-plus week period, primarily focused above 60 degrees north latitude and stretching as far as 82 degrees north latitude. Iridium is the only satellite communications network that provides reliable, truly global coverage, including the polar regions.
Learn more about Iridium partner McQ’s OAL participation:
- Tell our readers a bit about McQ and your relationship with Iridium.
McQ has been working with Iridium for over 20 years as a reliable communication means of getting our sensor information back to operators around the world. McQ sensors are used in very remote areas for security of assets, borders and perimeters that tend to have security concerns for Military and Commercial Operations like Oil & Gas, Maritime, and Construction sites. With the upgraded Iridium constellation, McQ has taken advantage of the satellites’ bilateral communications and are using the Iridium Certus™ 9770 transceiver for McQ CONNECT™, the Iridium 9603 transceiver for McQ RANGER®sat and the Iridium Core 9523 for McQ OWL®sat.
- Can you tell us more about the products you are demonstrating on this expedition and what they’re typically used for?
McQ RANGER® sat detects people and vehicles, tracks targets and triggers McQ OWL™ sat for imagery of the target of interest. This unattended ground sensor can be hand emplaced or airdropped into critical areas of concern. McQ OWL™sat detects, classifies and tracks people and vehicles with a micro-doppler internal radar and quickly turns on an internal camera to provide video of the target. McQ CONNECT™ provides connectivity to include voice, video, data with 22 kbps uplink and 88 kbps downlink. High quality video is sent over McQ CONNECT™ with McQ vWatch® video compression management software; compresses video at least 10 to 1 to provide high quality video.
Photo: The McQ RANGER™ in Point Barrow, AK, the northern most point in the U.S.
- Can you explain a bit about how your technology works and what communications threads you have been most eager to experience?
McQ strives to compress the data and video to be able to send over the Iridium constellation for security requirements anywhere in the world with reliable and secure two-way communications.
- What would you like readers to know about OAL and your product specifically? Are there any features or unique capabilities that standout in the Arctic environment?
McQ sensor systems are built to withstand the temperature extremes ranging from hot, cold and wet conditions. We strive to provide very rugged equipment to meet security requirements necessary to protect assets with bilateral communications with command and control from anywhere in the world.
To learn more about McQ, visit: www.mcqinc.com
