Categories: Newspace

Combining the benefits of IoT and satellite communication

25, March 2021

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of digitalizing operations for numerous reasons. Reducing human intervention in high-risk areas (such as mining sites) is a priority. Increasing productivity, optimizing resources and moving towards a more sustainable Industry 4.0 are also key motivations. As a result, many sectors, such as maritime transport or mining, want to connect personnel and equipment in these remote areas.

Lately, many satellite communication providers are partnering with IoT experts, to couple the benefits of these two technologies. With the expansion of satellite communications through the creation of constellations (including nanosatellites), new opportunities are occurring. Let’s take a closer look at the specificities of these communication means.

Combining the benefits of IoT and satellite communication : a crucial issue for the industry.

As explained in our previous article, white areas represent 80% of the planet. To overcome this lack of connection, we must turn to space. At the moment, satellite solutions exist. Communication providers can supply companies with terminals, guaranteeing a permanent and reliable satellite connection. However, this does not allow to connect to objects, without a tedious and time-consuming development, which requires a strong expertise in IoT.

Moreover, connected objects must resist to extreme environmental conditions. For example, maritime, mining or oil and gas sectors are exposed to very high temperatures or high levels of humidity. It is essential that products are very robust (IP67) and autonomous in energy. The challenge now is to design products that are both compatible with standard wireless protocols (LoraWan, Wi-Fi, BLE, Zigbee, M-Bus…) and with future satellite constellations.

HIoTee technology overcomes these difficulties because on one hand our solutions are plug & play (no pairing needed), and compatible with many standard wireless protocols. On the other hand, our products are designed to be compatible with the future satellite constellations that will be launched.