Satellites extend IoT coverage

In an article in ‘Ingeni?ren’ (November 12, 2021, page 48-49) , professor at Aalborg University and GateHouse board member, Petar Popovski, elaborates on how 5G and other wireless IoT technologies are moving toward extended range using LEO satellites.

'Many of the traditional limitations of satellite communications are disappearing because the satellite is close to Earth and not 30,000 km away. However, the Doppler effect is still significant because the satellites are moving at high speed. A conventional mobile network is built to have mobile units and a static infrastructure. Here, the opposite is the case, and a mobile infrastructure requires new thinking', says Petar Popovski.

GateHouse SatCom is working on standardizing and integrating 5G satellite connections, developing software for Narrow Band IoT, the 5G version of an IoT network. The project is a collaboration with Spanish Sateliot, and they?expect?to have a functional constellation of LEO satellites in operation by 2022.

GateHouse SatCom Senior VP, Thomas Scott Jensen, elaborates on some?the challenges of designing new protocols for LEO satellites. He says that satellites orbiting the Earth at low altitudes disappear from the horizon in 7-9 minutes, and then you need to?either save data and wait until the connection is re-established or try to send data on to another satellite with?coverage, which then sends to Earth. This is the type of choice GateHouse SatCom faces when designing the new protocols. Another significant technical challenge is the number of devices that can be connected to a satellite and how communication is prioritized. When the satellite can monitor large areas at once, the number of possible devices also highly increases.

Several European telecommunications companies have started offering satellite broadband at prices comparable to wired broadband.

The new agreements point to a more general trend, where land-based wireless networks – primarily mobile networks - are integrated with satellite networks, instead of functioning as two separate networks each with its own protocols and hardware.

However, commercial agreements will probably only be considered when the international telecommunications organization 3GPP includes non-terrestrial networks directly in the 5G standards. It can be networks from satellites, but also drones, balloons or other technologies that are not landlocked. This will come into effect in the next major upgrade of 5G, Release 17, which will be released in 2022.

The development happens at the same time as satellite communication is being standardized in line with other network technologies.

(English summary of the article brought in ‘Ingeni?ren', November 12, 2021, page 48-49).