RF Module Eyes IoT Networking Using Satellite Comms

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Seeking to enable IoT device communication via satellites, Astrocast and CEA have teamed up on a new RF module.

www.allaboutcircuits.com, Oct. 02, 2022 – 

A key concept behind the Internet of things (IoT) is to create an interconnected network of intelligent devices that can share information with each other. The key to unlocking this, naturally, is the ability for these devices to communicate, but this may not always be possible in all environments and circumstances.

Last week, Astrocast, in collaboration with CEA, announced a new IoT satellite communication module to help enable wireless connectivity for IoT devices regardless of environment and location. In this article, we'll cover situations where IoT devices may need satellite communication along with the new module from Astrocast.

Using Satellites for IoT Communication

When it comes to the Internet of things, the most fundamental functionality that a device needs to possess is the ability to communicate wirelessly.

In many cases, IoT communication is achieved through standard communication protocols such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and, popularly, cellular. While all of these standards work well, they are each limited by the range they feature.

For their part, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are relatively short range protocols, reaching distances of 10 meters and 45 meters respectively, cellular devices have a much longer range but are still mostly confined to populated areas that actually have coverage, which is roughly only 15% of the planet.

Instead, applications like wildlife conservation and maritime cannot use any of these protocols as they often occur in remote areas without access to terrestrial networks. For IoT use cases like this, the solution is satellite communications.

With satellite communication, IoT devices are able to access a network regardless of the presence of terrestrial networks and hence can communicate even in the most isolated environments. The result is enabling a whole new suite of IoT applications that may have otherwise been impossible.

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