Marine Iridium Satellite Communication Service

Tender description

The Met Office operates a network of c.75 weather stations in the marine environment across buoys, ships and other remote platforms or islands - these are deployed in nearshore waters and the Atlantic Ocean, with a few ship stations travelling further afield. The network relies upon satellite communications to ensure continued timely submission of essential marine observation data, with all stations hosting an Autonomous Marine Observing System (AMOS2X) equipped with an Iridium short burst data (SBD) modem. Our contract with our current satellite communications supplier has expired, and we now have a requirement to re-tender / contract in order to continue to be able to transfer observational data from remote marine stations to our data ingestion system via Iridium service provider generated emails. Whilst our overarching requirement refers to an Iridium SBD airtime service, we are seeking input from the market in terms of the both the financial and technical feasibility of switching sites to TCP/IP connectivity with communications including MQTT over TLS 1.2 and above. Additional information: Please see attached EEN and Request for Information, which details our requirements and outlines what it is we are looking to address. Should you wish to respond, please do so by following the instructions contained herein and by the deadline specified.