Bethesda, Md.-based Iridium Communications Inc. said it expects to begin by June commercial delivery of a smaller, lower-cost satellite data transceiver aimed at the remote asset tracking market.

The Iridium 9602, unveiled Jan. 20 at the company’s annual Partner Conference in Phoenix, is a full-duplex, short-burst data transceiver designed for embedded applications. Iridium spent two years developing the transceiver, which is about the size of a box of matches.

The transceiver is 69 percent smaller and 74 percent lighter than the more expensive first-generation Iridium 9601 transceiver it replaces, the company said in a statement.