By Eric Hewitson, Business Development & Strategy Manager, Wyld Networks

Kevin Ashton, the British technology pioneer who first coined the phrase “the Internet of Things” to describe the network connecting objects in the physical world to the Internet, said: “What the Internet of Things is really about is information technology that can gather its own information. Often what it does with that information is not tell a human being something, it [just] does something.” His vision was that by using data gathered without any help from humans, we would be able to track and count everything and greatly reduce waste and cost.

While early predictions about the number of IoT devices were over-optimistic, IoT technology has been steadily finding its way into many aspects of our lives and delivering the benefits that Ashton foresaw. But successful IoT projects need to balance the cost of sensor, connectivity and data platforms against the value of data to end users and applications. These sometimes highly complex calculations start with determining the parameters of key elements such as distance, data rate, security and, perhaps most critically, power consumption. This is particularly the case for remote IoT, where success can be determined by the ability to deploy and leave sensors off the grid – battery- or solar-powered things that can be left in place for multiple years on low power, chirping data back to the cloud.

But there’s the rub. It comes down to the question of connectivity. It’s no good having a low-power soil moisture sensor in a field if there is no connection; estimates suggest that only 15% of the world’s surface has terrestrial connectivity. Reflecting this, Inmarsat research recently revealed that 75% of the IoT decision makers are struggling to deploy their IoT projects due to connectivity issues. Additionally, there is a perception that remote IoT requires high power, making it impractical for the widespread deployment of sensors needed to digitise the world, affordably and quickly.

To establish a truly connected planet we need ubiquitous coverage for massive IoT deployments. The only way to do this practically is to complement terrestrial networks with satellite connectivity. As a result, there is an accelerating race to space and the IoT is undergoing a shift in scale as it moves to global low-power connectivity via satellites.

Satellite connections for the IoT can be delivered via low earth orbit (LEO), mid-earth orbit (MEO) and geosynchronous or geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites. With few commercial MEO constellations available, most IoT connectivity is currently provided through either GEO or LEO satellites.

GEO satellites are expensive to build, launch, operate and generally require relatively expensive hardware with high power consumption – the grid, large solar installation, generators or battery equipment. In contrast, LEO satellites are more affordable to build, launch and maintain and can be reached with very low power, such as 2 x AA lithium batteries or a small solar cell, and hardware is small and inexpensive.

Cost v benefit
There is a danger that the cost of providing IoT services will be greater than the value the service it delivers. This is especially true for the collection of small, low-value data such as temperature, humidity, water level, soil moisture etc. Not that this data is unimportant but that it must be more valuable than the cost of its collection and processing.

End users are looking at cost per message or cost per kilobyte and making decisions on the most commercially-viable models. Geo satellites have a place in delivering higher data volumes and faster more-actionable data, but there is a new opportunity for LEO satellites to offer low data rate IoT connectivity for 100% of the Earth’s surface at low cost.
Perceptions of satellites as a costly, luxury connectivity method are changing as the cost per kilobyte decreases in line with the increased need to digitise. So, whether data is nice to have or crucial, and needed for long term analysis or short-term critical functions, satellite IoT is radically expanding the possibility of options.

From identifying leakage of an oil pipeline to the impact of low soil moisture levels, collecting data from remote locations is delivering compelling value propositions. On a day-to-day basis, knowing that a system is working and gathering its critical data points via satellite could negate the need for site visits and truck roll by a maintenance engineer. From that perspective, satellite IoT clearly provides good value and return on investment.

Low-power satellite connectivity and low-price data will enable massive growth in IoT markets, instigating huge opportunities across multiple business verticals, including agriculture, asset tracking, logistics, utilities, energy infrastructure and maritime. Satellite IoT is an important step in the global expansion of the IoT. Direct sensor-to-satellite communications revolutionises IoT potential through this affordable ubiquitous connectivity for remote areas.

Network choices
Amongst the growing number of satellite IoT providers, there is a range of connectivity options including licensed and unlicensed spectrum. LoRaWAN, the Low Power, Wide Area Network (LPWAN) protocol in the unlicensed spectrum enables affordable connectivity and can seamlessly connect to public and private LoRaWAN networks as well as satellites.

The LoRa Alliance recently upgraded its guidelines to include Long Range Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (LR-FHSS) data rates for the LoRaWAN standard. LR-FHSS enables reliable low-power data links directly from sensors to satellites. LEO satellite constellations will connect vast remote areas around the globe and support millions of end nodes to deliver a new level of reliable connectivity for IoT services. However, satellite IoT should be seen as part of an overall IoT networking strategy rather than a replacement to current terrestrial LPWAN connectivity. Its value is in its ability to augment terrestrial LPWAN networks and provide a fallback for terrestrial networks, whilst acting as a default for those situations where it is the only method available.

Sensors can be connected to satellite IoT terminals, and, as the market expands in 2022/3, many sensor manufacturers will look to embed LoRaWAN satellite capability into their systems to offer global connectivity, making it easy to set and deploy.

Changing the landscape for agriculture
Sensor-to-satellite technology promises to deliver real change for good – not least in the world of agriculture. Even before the war in Ukraine and growing global instability, there have been increasing concerns around food security. According to a recent UN report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, between 720 and 811 million people in the world went hungry in 2020. And according to an African agriculture and COVID-19 report published by McKinsey, up to 670 million people in Africa – roughly half of the population – already face food insecurity.

To generate increases in yield without a major increase in land resource is going to require significant changes in the face of climate change; forcing agricultural producers to battle against water shortages, increasing temperatures and more freak weather incidents.

Over the last few years, IoT has emerged as one of the most important technologies to help address these challenges and in its ‘Worldwide IoT in Agriculture Market Size 2023’ report, Statista predicts that the global agricultural IoT market will reach almost $30bn by 2023. This is about delivering more data points to give agronomists, engineers, designers and farmers a highly granular data picture of the food production cycle.

Key data sources include soil moisture sensing, weather stations, crop and storage monitoring, livestock and asset tracking, following the complete field to fork journey. For example, Wyld Networks is working with Canadian-based Agrology to allow Agrology ground truth soil moisture sensors to gather data, from even the most remote locations. Agrology’s predictive agriculture platform helps to identify and mitigate a variety of issues including smoke taint, irrigation and climate change.

Meanwhile, Bayer Crop Science is also harnessing sensor-to-satellite technology to capture data from beehives in locations with no, or poor, cellular coverage. It will allow hive managers and researchers to reliably and conveniently access and share critical sensor data to help maximise yield and optimise hive health. And in South America, Treevia is deploying sensor-to-satellite technology to help automate forest management anywhere in the world. With a critical need to develop sustainable forest management solutions, Treevia will be able to monitor variables in forest environments by automating data collection using high-precision IoT sensors.

New opportunities
Away from agriculture, sensor-to-satellite IoT is also gaining a high level of interest from other sectors. For example, in oil and gas, Chevron is working on a pilot solution to improve efficiency by collecting data from IoT sensors in remote locations to help reduce equipment downtime and enable preventative maintenance. Global IoT is also at the heart of the utilities data revolution, enabling smart grids, assets and meters to manage infrastructure more efficiently, profitably and sustainably. And with 100% global coverage across air, sea, road and rail, producers, manufacturers, logistics providers and other parties in the supply chain can receive valuable insight to deliver an improved customer experience, operational efficiency and significant cost savings.

The revolution in satellite IoT technology will overcome the two key barriers to universal access – global coverage and affordability – and as such can truly be termed as technology to democratise the IoT.