Standard text messages sent to Iridium pagers or satellite phones. These are often plain text and readable. Contains a RIC (ID) and a text payload.
SBDProtocol: Short Burst Data
Telemetry packets used by IoT devices, pipelines, trucking fleets, and aircraft. Usually binary/compressed data. Can be decrypted if the format is known.
VOCProtocol: Voice Call
Live voice conversation frames. Audio is encoded with the AMBE codec and encrypted by the network. Detection indicates an active call in your sector.
MARITIMEProtocol: SBD (Geotagged)
An SBD packet specifically identified as coming from an ocean-going vessel or buoy based on its GPS coordinates (Open Ocean / Low Altitude).
Network Infrastructure
IRAProtocol: Ring Alert
"Iridium Ring Alert." A high-power signal sent by a satellite to wake up a specific phone to tell it there is an incoming call. Useful for traffic analysis.
IBCProtocol: Beam Broadcast
General broadcast information for a specific spot beam. Contains time synchronization and beam ID info. Helps phones lock onto the network.
LCWProtocol: Link Control Word
Low-level management frames. These handle frequency handoffs, power control, and beam switching. "The heartbeat of the network."
IDAProtocol: Iridium Data Access
Raw data frames. Usually part of a larger SBD or maintenance stream. Often contains diagnostics like signal strength (LQI) and doppler shift.
Low Level / Raw
IMS
"Iridium Message Service." System-level text or maintenance commands. Rare to see user data here.
ISY
Synchronization frames. Used to align time slots between the satellite and the ground device.
ITL
"Iridium Transfer Layer." The outer wrapper for most packets. If a packet is marked ITL, the parser couldn't decode the inner payload.