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The internet of things goes extraterrestrial
Kevin Fitchard
Feb. 19, 2015 -
12:22 PM PST
As the internet of things grows to
encompass many more “things,” so are the number of wireless ways to connect
them. Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Low Energy and cellular are being
embedded in every manner of gadget from thermostats to cars, but industrial
IOT specialist Sigfox is suggesting one more type of connection:
satellites.
Sigfox is partnering
with aerospace company Airbus Defense and Space, French research
institute CEA-Leti and engineering
firm Sysmeca on
project called Mustang that aims to build a hybrid terrestrial/satellite that
can be used to connect the internet of things. Sigfox is already developing
low-power, low bandwidth wireless networks in several countries designed to
connect sensors,
industrial appliances and other gadgets to the internet. Its work with
Mustang could expand the scope of that network to the entirety of globe.
Devices connect to a Sigfox terrestrial transmitter where available, but beam
their information up to the heavens when not.
These kinds of
satellite machine-to-machine (M2M) networks have actually been around for some
time, run by big orbital communications provides like Orbcomm,
Iridium
and Globalstar.
But Mustang seems to have something more ambitious — or less ambitious,
depending how you look at — in mind. Instead of uploading telematics data from
military tanks in the desert or collecting data from buoys in the ocean, Sigfox
is geared at connecting more everyday objects, from the alarm
system in your home to the tracking
device on your dog’s collar.
These types of networks don’t have much
bandwidth: they only need to transmit at few bits per second, they consume very
little power and they cost very little to operate. If Sigfox, Airbus and their
research partners can optimize a satellite network for those kind of use cases,
they would have something quite impressive on their hands.
Mustang’s founders said that the
project has a three year timeline, in which the plan to develop the modem
technology and the communications protocols necessary to make the system work.
So while my dogs are
connected by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi today, it may take some time before
they’re beaming info into space.
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