Satellite Internet of Things Market - September 2021
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September 2021 Satellite Internet of Things Market
Satellite Internet of Things
Market
by Elisabeth Tweedie
T
here is absolutely no doubt that given for using IoT were: safety and cattle for example are critical applica-
the Internet of Things (IoT) is security, optimizing operations, qual- tions in this segment.
a rapidly growing business. ity assurance and productivity.
Whether we’re consciously aware of Also, technological advances lead-
it or not, digital transformation is im- Many of the segments served by ing to smaller antennas and cheaper
pacting all aspects of daily life. Con- IoT have been affected by Covid. The bandwidth, have combined with sat-
nected devices are becoming perva- impact however, has been mixed. The ellite’s reliability and inherent ability
sive; from refrigerators that let you automotive industry, for example, one to scale, resulting in satellite’s reach
know when you’re going to run out of of the larger users of IoT, scaled back for IoT applications expanding to in-
milk, to sensors monitoring the mois- production, leading to decreased de- clude other geographies.
ture content of soil; from self-driving mand. Ironically, now as demand is
cars, to tags tracking the movement picking up again, a shortage of chips Key Segments for Satellite
of containers, across oceans and con- for the industry is still keeping pro-
tinents. A recent study from Fortune duction low. Conversely, in some oth- There are several key segments
Business Insights projected that the er segments, healthcare for example, that are particularly attractive to
global IoT market would reach US$ demand has surged as the pandemic satellite Service Providers, either be-
1,854.76 Billion by 2028, up from led to greater use of remote patient cause the segment offers particular
US$ 308.97 Billion in 2020, a CAGR monitoring. The research conducted growth opportunities, or because
of over 25%. NSR is predicting that by Microsoft showed that one third of satellite is the only possible solution,
the total retail market for satellite IoT decision-makers plan to increase their or because it’s a segment already de-
is also forecast to experience signifi- investment in IoT due to Covid-19, pendent on satellite for other applica-
cant growth, reaching around US$ 1.8 while another 41% say they’ll main- tions, so potentially offering an easier
billion by 2029, up from around US$ tain the same level of commitment. path to entry. We’ll take a brief look
700 million in 2020. at some of these, then consider three
Several factors have combined to key applications in more detail.
Growth is coming from many sec- accelerate usage of IoT. Technolo-
tors, as companies around the world gy advances in semiconductors, in- Cargo tracking and monitoring
are looking to IoT to drive greater creased use of cloud computing, stan- for containers and other large items
efficiencies and improve the bottom dardization of IPv6, and in some cases being transported, is a key IoT appli-
line through real-time monitoring government support for research and cation. Appropriately tagged cargo
of thousands of assets, which should development (R&D), these have all is tracked on both sea and land. Ob-
lead to better asset utilization, re- helped to increase the ubiquity of viously, satellite is needed at sea, but
duced waste, increased output and IoT. However, the fundamental tech- given the large distances traveled by
improved safety. Research commis- nology necessary for this growth, is some trucks, a satellite-based system
sioned by Microsoft in 2019 and 2020 communication. 5G, other cellular offers a ubiquity on land that can’t be
amongst 3,000 IT professionals in technologies and WiFi are the obvi- achieved with terrestrial systems.
the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan ous choice for many applications, but
and China bears this out. It showed there are large markets and parts of Transport companies also rely on
that 91% of organizations were using the world where satellite is the best IoT for electronic recording of hours
some form of IoT, and 90% of them solution. Maritime and aeronautical driven, and monitoring of operation-
viewed it as “critical to their suc- applications obviously fall into this al devices and events: fluid levels,
cess.” These figures were relatively category, but there are also many re- vibration, and speed for example.
consistent across the four segments mote areas where there is no reliable Combine these and you have a system
surveyed: manufacturing, healthcare, cellular coverage, and a need for mon- for better fleet management, which
retail and energy. The main reasons itoring and/or tracking; pipelines and
2 MARKET BRIEFS September 2021
will facilitate cost-efficiencies and
forecasting of vehicle replacement
timing. This of course, also applies to
heavy machinery, such as agriculture
and construction equipment, where
information about usage and fuel
consumption not only improves asset
tracking, but also helps fleet optimi-
zation.
Maritime is another key segment.
At sea, the equipment on merchant
fleets and cruise vessels is being
equipped with sensors for perfor-
mance monitoring, to improve effi-
ciencies and ensure any preventative
maintenance needed is carried out at
the appropriate time. Oil and gas rigs,
in common with ships, are using IoT
to monitor the status of equipment
and predict, and therefore prevent Cargo tracking and monitoring for containers and other large items
failures. In the fishing industry, sev- being transported, is a key IoT application.
eral countries have mandated the use (Image courtesy of Mobilogix)
of Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS),
to monitor activity and ensure active IoT is an integral part of this, needed farm equipment market is project-
reporting of catches. to facilitate automation and predictive ed to reach US$150 Billion by 2031,
maintenance. Gaining this level of vis- demonstrating a CAGR of over 10%
Mining is another industry where ibility into their generation and distri- from its current size. The sheer size
satellite has significant role to play. bution systems can reduce manpower of many of these farms, also means
Many mines are located in remote, needs, decrease downtime and enable that it is highly unlikely that the en-
inaccessible areas, which rarely justi- utilities to streamline operations and tire area will be covered by cellular
fy the deployment of terrestrial net- improve customer satisfaction. For or WiFi. NSR highlights this market
works. Predictive maintenance is a example, in 2017 when Houston was as the most significant one for satel-
key application for this sector. Addi- hit by Hurricane Harvey, over 250,000 lite, projecting the number of satellite
tionally, sensors installed around the people lost power. However, thanks to in-service units grow to over 790,000
mines can provide advance warning the prior installation of smart meters, in 2029 from 130,000 in 2019. This
to help prevent contamination, ero- CenterPoint Energy, the local utili- accounts for 26% of growth in satel-
sion, flooding and other disasters. ty company, was able to recover and lite IoT sites during that time period.
reconnect users quickly, avoiding an There are many drivers behind the
Pipelines carrying oil and gas tra- estimated 45 million outage minutes. market for IoT in farming, the main
verse many thousands of miles in re- one being the need for increased
mote geographies. Supervisory con- Agriculture food production. Factors such as the
trol and data acquisition, commonly ability to react instantly to changing
referred to as SCADA, is a key method Agriculture is a key segment that weather conditions, insight into crop
of ensuring the integrity and viability has really embraced the use of IoT planting, more precise harvesting and
of these pipelines. Sensors monitor in recent years. This is particular- precise and timely data regarding
the flow rate, pressure and the health ly true, in regions with vast farms soil, weather and pest conditions all
of valves, motors and pumps to pre- that cover thousands of acres, where play a role in realizing this goal. To
vent leakage and unforeseen failures. it is virtually impossible for farmers date global take-up has been patchy,
to know what goes on in all corners according to the report, Europe cur-
In many parts of the world, util- of their land. According to a report rently leads the way, with the US and
ity companies are turning to smart on Autonomous Farm equipment China representing other significant
grids, and satellite enables them to by Fact.MR, the global autonomous countries.
extend this to more rural customers.
MARKET BRIEFS September 2021 3
Precision crop farming uses sen-
sors to capture and transmit a vast
array of data including, lighting,
temperature, soil condition, humid-
ity, carbon dioxide levels and pest
infestations. Together this data en-
ables farmers to detect anomalies and
calculate optimum levels of fertilizer,
pesticides and water needed, there-
by increasing output whilst reducing
costs.
Weather stations will update the
farmer as to variations in microcli- Satellite IoT can be used for forest management and prediction
mates on their farms. As well as as- and early identification of natural disasters such as forest fires.
sisting with irrigation needs, this is
also used for feeding livestock. Smart
irrigation systems control and mon- 4.2 billion people (many on more mi warnings, flooding and wildfire
itor moisture levels, automatically than one occasion) and resulting prediction and prevention of col-
dispensing water as and when need- in approximately US$2.97 trillion lapse of critical infrastructure. Some
ed. Similarly, sensors monitor the in global economic losses. This is of these locations are able to employ
irrigation pipelines for leaks, alert- a sharp increase over the previous local terrestrial communications,
ing farmers when repairs are needed. twenty years. Between 1980 and 1999 but many others are in remote areas
Proactive monitoring can also identi- there were only 4,212 disasters. Ac- where satellite is the only solution.
fy the need for preventative mainte- cording to the report much of the One example of this is the Indian Na-
nance. In some cases, these alerts will difference is explained by a doubling tional Institute of Ocean Technology
be transmitted directly to equipment of climate-related disasters including (NIOT) which has a network of con-
manufacturers to trigger delivery of extreme weather events: from 3,656 nected buoys in the Indian Ocean to
spare parts and onsite repairs. climate-related events to 6,681 in the act as an early warning system for tsu-
same time periods. Looking at the namis, such as the one in 2004, that
Disaster Prevention and significant number of climate relat- killed 228,000 people in 14 countries
Mitigation ed disasters recently: major floods in and left two million homeless. The
Germany, India, Afghanistan, Chi- buoys are deployed along the unsta-
An exciting development has been na, Pakistan and Japan and wildfires ble fault line that caused that tsunami.
the application of IoT for monitoring in the US, Canada, Turkey, Italy and Beneath each buoy is a Bottom Pres-
and prediction and early identifica- Greece, to name but a few, it seems sure Recorder (BPR). These detect
tion of natural disasters, as well as to inevitable that the number of cli- sudden increases in pressure under
aid rescue efforts. Currently, the vast mate related disasters will continue the sea, which indicate the formation
majority of disaster management is to rise. It’s therefore easy to under- of a tsunami. The BPR communicates
reactive. Predictive management is stand why there is a great need for to the buoy via an acoustic modem,
in its infancy, but it’s badly needed early warning, prevention and miti- and the buoys use satellite commu-
and is starting to happen. It is likely gation systems and solutions that can nications to transmit real-time infor-
to become even more essential in the aid rescue workers. IoT is the key to mation to the shore stations, so that
years ahead, as climate change con- making this happen. local residents can be informed. The
tributes to increasing the frequency buoys are also use to collect other
and severity of natural disasters. Ac- IoT in the form of multiple strate- marine information, such as currents,
cording to an October 2020 report gically located sensors, coupled with conductivity and temperature.
from the United Nations, in recent the use of the Cloud, and Augmented
years, extreme weather events have Intelligence (AI) to make sense of all Forest fires around the world are
dominated the disaster landscape. In the data collected, is now being used increasing in both number, size and
the period 2000 to 2019, there were in many locations around the world duration, as global warming contin-
7,348 major recorded disaster events to aid in disaster prevention and mit- ues to create the ideal conditions for
claiming 1.23 million lives, affecting igation. Applications include, tsuna- them. Current systems for monitor-
4 MARKET BRIEFS September 2021
Cynthia Harty, VP-Strategic Business Development,
ST Engineering iDirect
Cynthia Harty is Vice President-Strategic Business Development at ST Engineering iDirect. Cyn-
thia’s expertise lies in operations and the introduction of new products, services and solutions to
market, establishing channel and pricing strategy. As VP of Business Development, her focus is on
the augmentation of the company’s 5-year plan and the partnerships that will enable the introduc-
tion of incremental capabilities to a product, solution or service and different go-to-market strategies.
Please give us a brief overview of the key features and
benefits of your IoT solution?
We are offering flexible IoT Solutions utilizing our
existing ST Engineering iDirect hub infrastructure that
ease the entry of Service Providers into the IoT market.
Our solutions utilizes a family of compact, lightweight
IoT terminals that feature a tightly integrated satellite
modem and flat-panel antenna design in Ka-band or
Ku-band variants for fixed and mobile environments.
For our Evolution and Velocity hub platforms, IoT
waveform enabled universal linecards (ULC) provide
simplified integration into an existing 5IF hub chassis
as the IoT modulator and demodulator. Hidden carrier
technology allows for IoT and VSAT carriers to coexist Cynthia Harty
in the same bandwidth, ultimately optimizing use of
Your solution is specifically for GEO satellites, how does
allocated bandwidth. A Hub Base Station (HBS) element
it compare to the non-GEO solutions now entering the
is available for activation on the Dialog platform. And
market?
what’s more, we are also providing optional service en-
ablement solutions that offer Service Providers IoT-as-a-
There are many narrowband service options available
Service options to speed up market entry.
in L-Band, UHF and the newer smallsat constellations.
Many of these services are limited in terms of use cases
Explain a little bit more on the full turnkey solution
to Low Data Rate (LDR) applications only. They feature
that you offer?
predefined payload sizes and pre-defined polling inter-
vals ranging from per-minute to per-day, for example.
We can provide customers with a complete connec-
Furthermore, they often don’t offer the flexibility in in-
tivity solution that’s built on a flexible service enable-
creasing throughput beyond the stated data rate and are
ment platform paired with IoT-as-a-service options for
not cost effective for higher data requirements, limiting
fixed and mobile IoT environments. These solutions ease
use cases to Low Data Rate (LDR) applications only. We
the entry of Service Providers into the IoT market by
offer greater flexibility around branding and customized
reducing the upfront capital investments and operational
service plans, message size, polling intervals and band-
complexity usually required to launch an IoT platform
width allocation depending on their end user application
and service. Our IoT Solution provides a complete
requirements in both voice and data use cases.
network management system (NMS) that supports both
Our solution enables our partners to leverage their
operational support system (OSS) functions as well as
existing capacity, ST Engineering iDirect platforms and
business support system (BSS) functions via an applica-
systems to launch an IoT service over Ku or Ka band,
tion program interfaces (API).
supporting both Low Data Rate (LDR) as well as Medi-
um Data Rate (MDR) applications. Future development
MARKET BRIEFS September 2021 5
will support High Data Rate (HDR) applications as well. benefits does it provide to your client?
What market segments will your IoT solution be serv- We are currently working with a number of our cus-
ing? tomers and partners helping them implement industrial
IoT solutions across a range of vertical markets, includ-
Our solutions can support a myriad of use cases. ing utilities, oil & gas, maritime, transportation and en-
Transportation, which includes land, rail, and mar- vironmental monitoring. In one specific example, we had
itime, is by far the largest satellite IoT vertical due to a customer that was suffering performance issues with
satellite’s reach, reliability, and added security benefits. their incumbent satellite IoT solution. Having limited
IoT provides a highly effective solution for asset track- control over their satellite resources, they suffered from
ing, fleet management, telematics and analysis of the congestion, high latency and data losses for a time criti-
mobile workforce. cal monitoring application. This was further compound-
In the Maritime sector, IoT finds use cases in track- ed with high connectivity costs. Using our IoT solution,
ing and management of small vessels. This is especially they were able to re-purpose their investments in ST
important for the small-scale fishing industry, which has Engineering iDirect infrastructure and run the same
IoT requirements around catch reporting for traceability application over their existing network and capacity. This
and regulatory compliance. has enabled them greater control over the end –to-end
In the Oil and Gas and Energy sector, use cases service, to offer higher reliability and scalability, all while
include pipeline monitoring, equipment telematics, maintaining an optimum cost of connectivity.
predictive and preventative maintenance and beyond
line-of-sight monitoring of pipelines and electricity dis- How do you see the IoT solution you are currently
tribution networks. This also applies to water networks, providing evolving, in other words, why should your
in terms of flow and pressure. IoT can also replace the potential clients invest in it now?
need for on-site technicians for remote monitoring,
advanced meter reading and asset tracking. As we move towards the implementation of Industry
In Mining, IoT provides asset tracking of trucks, 4.0 and begin to realize the plethora of opportunities
trailers and heavy equipment, site operations including that advanced technologies such as 5G, edge computing,
safety and security. Construction is another sector that automation, orchestration and virtualization bring to
holds big potential for satellite IoT. It is used for asset the table, here is an opportunity to obtain a complete
tracking offering intelligence on engine hours, mileage connectivity solution from a single, trusted source. As
report alerts, fuel consumption and location. On con- the industry leader across many market segments it’s
struction sites it gives important insight into operations, our vision to constantly evolve our solutions to meet the
most notably safety and critical area monitoring as well current and future needs of our customers. It’s what has
as to track progress and security on site. Again, drone made us and our customers successful.
line of sight use applications enable easy inspection or As part of this future vision, we are pioneering a
survey. world-class cloud-based satellite ground infrastructure
As demand for sustainable farming practices increas- platform that enables multi-orbit, multi-access technol-
es, Agriculture, namely precision farming, is becoming ogy services in a converged telco environment driven by
increasingly popular. Satellite IoT has an integral role the best business case and market strategy.
to play here to help analyze different aspects of the farm Our model for ground infrastructure is one that’s ful-
such as soil, harvest and crop management, fertilizer ly digitized and virtualized, is based on open standards,
monitoring and greenhouse and open field manage- and orchestrates dynamically configured space resources
ment. Important environmental factors such as rainfall, with real-time demand on the ground. It advances key
temperature, wind speed, CO2, power production and aspects of a satellite network from more powerful wave-
consumption of solar panels can be closely watched. forms and more intelligent bandwidth allocation to more
IoT can also be utilized for livestock tracking and asset capable remotes. It transforms satellite service delivery
tracking for farm machinery as well and drone beyond so that it’s perfectly seamless, significantly more econom-
line of sight for inspection of crops. ical, infinitely scalable, and can deliver whatever data rate
and functionality is needed for any possible application
Can you cite a specific example of how your IoT that satellite connectivity can support
solution will be implemented in the market and what
6 MARKET BRIEFS September 2021
ing and early detection primarily rely
Growth in Satellite M2M/IoT Sites by Application
on observation, often from optical
satellites or drones. However, there 2019-2029
are several different methods being
developed to aid in prediction or
very early detection. These include
equipping forests with CO2, heat and
smoke detectors, to be used in con-
junction with drones.
Monitoring Critical
Infrastructure
IoT is also starting to play a signif-
icant role in the monitoring of critical
infrastructure, such as bridges and
dams. Failure can occur simply as a
result of age. However, in some cases
extreme weather will also come into that it is partnering with a sensor this market, yet wondering about the
play, particularly with dams, where company to provide dam operators best way to enter. The plethora of
excessive rainfall can cause build-up and owners in Australia, with a dam solutions available make it hard for
not only of water, but also of debris, monitoring solution. them to choose. Should they totally
causing additional stress and strain change their business model and go
on the structure itself, which if it’s Satellite IoT Market with one of the startup constellations,
breached can lead to flooding down- many of which only offer a full turn-
stream potentially damaging agricul- As previously mentioned, accord- key service, and given their numbers,
tural land and homes. For example, ing to NSR, the total retail market some of which may not be in business
in 2017, heavy rainfall caused con- for satellite IoT is forecasted to expe- in a few years’ time? Should they
siderable damage to the Spillway of rience significant growth, reaching align themselves with the established
the Oroville Dam in California, ne- around US$ 1.8 billion by 2029, up L-Band players, or should they stick
cessitating the evacuation of 188,000 from around US$ 700 million in 2020. with a GEO solution, which means
people. Installation of sensors on the This market is divided between MSS minimal change to both their equip-
dam structure, coupled with weather systems, the new LEO systems and ment and their business model? Hard
data can help mitigate the chances traditional GEO systems. MSS oper- decisions to make. For an established
of a major failure. In the US, 69% of ators such as Iridium, Globalstar, and VSAT operator this will be a totally
dams are privately owned. Many of Orbcomm have been in the business new venture, and one that they may
the owners don’t have the financial for many years and have a well-estab- prefer to enter slowly, before making
resources to conduct all the necessary lished base of customers, primarily a major commitment.
inspections and preventative mainte- mobile. However, these systems use
nance. IoT has the potential to play different frequencies: L-Band for Irid- For these Service Providers, ST
an important role in this market. Ac- ium and Orbcomm, and S-Band for Engineering iDirect, offers a unique
cording to the Association of State Globalstar; bandwidth for these fre- cost-effective, highly scalable and
Dam Safety Officials the average age quencies, tends to be more expensive efficient solution that gives Service
of dams in the US is 56 years, mean- than at Ku or Ka. The smallsat LEO Providers the key to the IoT mar-
ing that many are at an age when constellations are relatively new en- ket, enabling them to enter it at their
structural failure becomes more like- trants to the satellite market and there own pace. Regardless of whether a
ly. Appropriately installed sensors on are many of them including: Kepler Dialog, Evolution or Velocity hub is
the dams themselves as well as on the Communications, Astrocast, Lacuna, being used, Service Providers will be
gates and hydraulics, can supplement and Kineis. able to seamlessly integrate the addi-
visual inspections to avoid a disaster. tional functionality into their exist-
One company taking this to heart is Given these forecasts it is not sur- ing hub. The solution from ST Engi-
Myriota, a smallsat startup company, prising that many existing satellite neering iDirect, incorporates an IoT
which earlier this year announced Service Providers are keenly eyeing optimized waveform, a cloud-based
MARKET BRIEFS September 2021 7
Satellite IoT for Agricultural Applications
From Ancestral Farming to Agribusiness business for equipment providers such as John Deere as
F
well as farms and farmers. As early technology adopters,
or thousands of years, farmers have yielded crops John Deere was one of the first in the agricultural arena to
that are at the mercy of farmers’ best judgement begin using satellite for a variety of applications onsite at
and incremental improvements through now-rudi- farms and between them, leveraging the scalability, flexi-
mentary inventions such as mechanical improvements. bility and, of course, reach of satellite communications.
Nearly every aspect of traditional agriculture can be Today, Precision Farming businesses are using IoT
monitored, measured, forecasted, or otherwise tracked to connected sensors, for example, on tractors to check the
gain valuable information. Sensors applied to equipment, moisture level in the soil to ensure that each individual
livestock, vehicles, and more all offer an ever-increasing seed is planted at precisely the right depth. Without this,
set of data points. When these are collected and syner- if all seeds are planted at the same depth, varying mois-
gized by IoT technologies, the agriculture industry be- ture levels in the soil will impact the growth so that not
comes as tech driven as any other on the planet to drive all the crop ripens at the same time. Ultimately, part of
decision making. the crop is wasted at harvest time. Smart tractors and
sprayers guided by GPS and sensor data can save fuel
John Deere is the epitome of a leading agriculture and seed, decrease workload, and reduce the amount of
supply company that is embracing IoT in a big way, herbicides and pesticides needed.
paving the way to Precision Agriculture which is big
Some examples of IoT applications in agriculture include:
Precision farming: Precision farming devices collect a vast array of data specific to crop farming, field microclimate,
and the ecosystem. This data enables farmers to detect anomalies or infestations; estimate optimal amounts of fertilizer,
water, and pesticides that their crops need; reduce costs; and increase outputs.
Monitoring environmental conditions: Weather stations located throughout agricultural microclimates can send
updates over satellite for a real-time status of environmental conditions. This data can guide farm managers on the
deployment of day-to-day operations, such as irrigation and livestock feeding.
Smart irrigation systems: Farms can optimize the use of water through smart irrigation control and monitoring sys-
tems that automatically trigger irrigation systems when soil moisture levels are low. Sensors can also detect faults and
leaks in water pipelines to trigger repairs and reduce water waste.
Livestock tracking: Livestock monitoring collects data on stock health, well-being, and physical location.
Predictive maintenance and equipment monitoring: Telemetry data from equipment enables the proactive diagnosis
of issues and the remote servicing of equipment. It can also generate notifications to call a service technician.
Asset tracking: By tracking fuel consumption, maintenance, and location of light and heavy machinery, farming op-
erations can prevent theft and vandalism of security systems. With asset tracking farms can trace produce as it moves
through the supply chain.
Drone beyond line of sight: Drones can be used for crop inspection, high value crop monitoring, and maintainance.
8 MARKET BRIEFS September 2021
next page
Why Farms Need to Leverage Data period of education and good implementation. A critical
requirement of any IoT solution is ease of use. Depending
The list of ways the agriculture industry might lever- on resources and the size of a farm, there may be no IT
age data is as long as there are species to sow and reap. manager so IoT systems need to be easily installed and
By collecting and analyzing data, the industry has an up and running quickly. Terminals must also be small,
infinite number of ways to improve agricultural practices with low power consumption, offering easy access to all
using IoT applications. Satellite IoT adds another layer of frequency bands and the cost of the solution must be
scalability by adding its inherent characteristics of reach affordable. Above all, farmers must see fast Return on
to often out-of-reach and disparate farm sites. All of these Investment.
applications together roll up to a few overarching themes, The success of the IoT’s impact on Smart Farming is
namely, increasing productivity and profit while reducing also dependent on the creation of a robust ecosystem.
waste. This involves several steps: harvesting the data from the
Precision farming, or Smart Farming, is using IoT field, passing it to the cloud and analyzing it using AI and
applications for better asset management and monitoring. machine learning before making meaningful data avail-
These applications can run the gamut to include micro- able on platforms that farmers can easily access to aid
climate and soil conditions, crop growth, livestock health decision-making. Real-time information on weather and
and activity, infestation detection, any sort of anomaly, environmental factors for example, will provide key data
and equipment health and malfunction, to generally on when to irrigate. Each of these are businesses unto
maintain better control over the agricultural process. By themselves that will play a part in IoT for agriculture.
more fully monitoring assets and learning from the data, Different connectivity capabilities will be required to
IoT is quickly becoming an essential business operations address the full spectrum of applications from monitor-
tool required to compete. ing of farm machinery to the provision of Internet access
to farm buildings. Satellite’s inherent capabilities—such
Success Criteria for Smart Farming as its ability to reach remote areas, scale, and to extend
coverage for other providers—make it an ideal enabler of
Getting these technologies onto farms and complete- IoT.
ly instantiated in the agriculture industry will require a
MARKET BRIEFS September 2021 9
Network Management System (NMS) “...Different IoT market segments have different
from hiSky, and a portfolio of small requirements in terms of bandwidth...The IoT
form-factor IoT terminals with inte- solution from ST Engineering iDirect can handle all
grated modems and antennas for mo-
bility or fixed use cases. In addition, of these...”
ST Engineering iDirect makes market
entry easy, by offering IoT as a ser- mounted on poles or buildings. It based applications such as SCADA,
vice, with a range of flexible business supports Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) industrial control and maritime
model options, enabling Service Pro- as well as solar power. This terminal vessel management systems, tend
viders to cautiously enter the market; provides several wireless connectiv- to have a higher throughput, may-
maybe with just one customer initial- ity options: Wifi and Bluetooth Low be 10-100Kbps and a total usage of
ly. This way it’s possible to minimize Energy (BLE) for phones, tablets and up to 25MB per month, and at the
the upfront capital investment and sensors, and wired options for IoT high end, demand based or contin-
steep learning curve usually associat- devices and sensor gateways such as uous throughput usage will be much
ed with entry into a new market. LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area higher, 10-500Kbps leading to hun-
Network). It’s intended for deploy- dreds of MBs per month total usage.
For Dialog, hiSky’s Hub Base Sta- ment in extremely remote areas for IoT backhaul is one classic example
tion (HBS) functions as a modulator use in mining, pipelines and other of this, other use cases include sur-
and demodulator and is paired with a energy verticals, as well as for ag- veillance and telematics for heavy
protocol processing server. For Evo- riculture and other remote sensor equipment. The IoT solution from ST
lution and Velocity hub platforms, backhaul applications. The dynamic Engineering iDirect can handle all of
IoT waveform enabled universal line terminal incorporates an integrated these. ST Engineering iDirect’s Dia-
cards (ULC) provide simplified inte- phased-array antenna for automatic log, Evolution or Velocity platforms,
gration into a 5IF hub chassis as the satellite acquisition and tracking and is ideal for IoT aggregation, whereby
IoT modulator and demodulator. fast beam switching, incorporating data from multiple sensors connect
Dedicated IoT timing groups are em- polarization and frequency switch- to a single device or endpoint, which
ployed on the ULC, and hidden carri- ing. The antenna design is tightly in- then connects to the satellite.
er functionality is implemented. This tegrated with the satellite modem into
means that the IoT carrier can run a single unit featuring Ethernet, WiFi, So, for a Service Provider looking
under other VSAT outbound carriers Serial and Bluetooth interfaces and to enter the IoT market, but who is re-
on the same hub chassis. hiSky pack- optimized for low power consump- luctant to completely change its busi-
et processing software is implement- tion. ness model, equally unenthusiastic
ed on an integrated gateway server. about the idea of needing omnidirec-
Different IoT market segments tional or tracking antennas, and also
The application server is managed have different requirements in terms very reluctant to commit to a new op-
through the cloud-based hiSky 360 of bandwidth. Low data rate events- erator who may not even be around
NMS, allowing Service Providers to based usage such as smart meters, as- in a few years-time; sticking with a
configure, operate and monitor the set tracking and remote monitoring, GEO solution and a well-established,
platform and its components. these applications tend to generate trusted partner makes perfect busi-
small data bursts of bandwidth, up to ness sense. For these Service Provid-
One of the particularly unique 30Kbps, for a total usage of perhaps ers, the solution from ST Engineering
features of ST Engineering iDirect’s 1-2MB per month. Other events- iDirect, is the ideal choice.
solution, is the size of the terminal.
No bigger than a laptop and incor-
porating a flat panel phased-array Elisabeth Tweedie is Associate Editor of the Satellite
antenna, in either Ku or Ka-Band Executive Briefing has over 20 years experience at
for connection to Geostationary sat- the cutting edge of new commmunications entertain-
ellites. There are two versions. The ment technologies. She is the founder and President
Dynamic Terminal for Comms-on- of Definitive Direction (www.definitivedirection.com),
the-Pause (COTP) and Comms-on- a consultancy that focuses on researching and evalu-
the-Move (COTM) and a fixed ter- ating the long-term potential for new ventures, initiating their develop-
minal for fully outdoor applications. ment, and identifying and developing appropriate alliances. She can be
In the fixed version the terminal is reached at: etweedie@definitivedirection.com
10 MARKET BRIEFS September 2021You see the opportunity of an IoT solution to capture new markets. Unlock the potential with your existing ST Engineering iDirect hub infrastructure. By adding cutting-edge IoT terminals and optimized waveform technology, your new satellite IoT solution begins now. Find out more: idirect.net/products/iot-solutions/
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