Two years ago, on March 22, 2021, a CubeSat rocket was launched into Earth orbit. Two of these CubeSats represented competing approaches to bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) into space. One, operated by Lacuna Space, uses the LoRaWAN protocol, a long-range, low power protocol owned by Semtech. The other, owned by Sateliot, uses a narrow-band IoT protocol, following in the footsteps of OQ Technology, which launched a similar demo of IoT satellites in 2019. Separately, in late 2022, cellular industry standard-setter 3GPP rolled out satellite 5G. to standard cellular with release 17.

In other words, the IoT space race is on.

In addition to Lacuna and Sateliot, OQ Technology is also on the heels of traditional satellite carriers such as Iridium, Orbcomm and Inmarsat for share in the growing satellite IoT subscriber market. OQ Technology has three low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and plans to launch seven more this year, Prasanna Nagarajan, chief innovation officer at OQ Technology, says. OQ has solvent clients in oil and gas, agricultural and transport logistics.

Sateliot, based in Barcelona, ​​Spain, has a satellite in orbit that it launched in 2021 and plans to launch four more this year, says Paula Code, business development manager at Sateliot. The company is inviting early adopters to try its service for free this year while it expands its reach. “Some use cases are suitable for overflights every few hours, such as agricultural sensors,” Kode says. OQ Technology claims it will launch enough satellites by 2024 to provide at least hourly coverage, and later that year, near real-time coverage, with Sateliot perhaps a year behind the other company.

visualization of a small rectangular satellite in orbit.  The satellite is covered with blue panels, and it says on the front "satellite"Satellite

Incumbent satellite operators already offer IoT coverage, but for now, they require dedicated IoT hardware tuned to their spectrum bands and protocols. Insurgent companies that use the 3GPP version 17 standard will be able to offer satellite communications for devices originally designed to connect only to cell towers.

New companies also see an opportunity to offer more attractive prices at lower prices. “Legacy satellite providers were charging around $100 for a few kilobits of data, and customers aren’t willing to pay that much for IoT,” says Nagarajan. “There seemed to be a huge gap in the market.” Another company, Swarm, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX, offers low-speed connectivity through its own devices to its tiny satellites for $5 a month.

With a common launch infrastructure and cheaper IoT-compatible modules and satellites, new firms can compete with companies that have had satellites in orbit for decades. More and more equipment and services are available on an off-the-shelf basis. “An IoT standard module can cost eight or ten euros, compared to three hundred euros for satellite modules,” Kode says.

In fact, Sateliot has awarded a contract to build its first satellite with Open Cosmos. Open Cosmos mission leader Jordi Castelvi says cubesat subsystems and some specialized services are now available online from providers such as AlénSpace, CubeSatShop, EnduroSat and Isispace, among others.

Rendering of a small satellite covered in black panels in orbit over Europa at night.open space

By building constellations of hundreds of satellites with IoT modules in low Earth orbit, IoT satellite companies can save money on equipment and still detect weak signals from IoT gateways or even individual IoT sensors, such as those on board vehicles. containers loaded onto cargo ships. in the sea. They won’t carry as much data as voice and broadband offerings are in the works, such as those from SpaceMobile’s AST and larger, more sophisticated Lynk Global satellites, but they can meet growing demand for narrowband applications.

OQ Technology has its own licensed spectrum and can operate as an independent network operator for IoT users with the latest version of 3GPP, although most users may not have direct contact with such providers at first; both Sateliot and OQ Technology are partnering with existing mobile carriers to offer a kind of global IoT roaming package. For example, while a cargo ship is in port, the customer’s onboard IoT device will transmit over the local cellular network. Further out to sea, it will switch to transmitting to overhead satellites. “The next step is the ability to integrate cellular and satellite services,” Kode says.

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