How Satellite Communications are Changing the IoT Landscape

There are currently over 17 billion IoT devices connected worldwide, with the number expected to reach 30 billion by 2030. As these devices become located in increasingly remote areas, the need for satellite connectivity is increasing. I recently spoke with a representative from FreeWave Technologies on how their platform and partners aim to provide this connectivity. 

Can you provide an overview of FreeWave’s activities in the Satellite Communications Industry? 

The name of our game is remote, unmanned reliability and availability – all applications where there is a requirement for data connectivity in the field or where data is being gathered. For example, if you have an oil well, these are typically in remote locations where there is hardly any cell phone coverage. So that’s where we come in to put satellite connectivity in the game. What we do then with all the data gathered by the sensors in the field is backhaul it, either by 900MHz radio or through LTE if available. If neither of these is available, we will use satellite. 

So now you have established your pipe of data from the field into the FreeWave(R) Insights™ platform. That is where we translate all of the data from all the different languages that are received into one that the platform can understand. This could be JSON, UDP traffic, etc. Then what the platform does is data analytics and presents the data in multiple dashboards for the customer. 

Specifically, multiple dashboards are very important for us and the customer. A project manager would want to see a different data presentation and trends than someone who is responsible for the operations of, for example, the oil field or farm or irrigation platform. And then you have the financial team that would want to see different data again. That is how we can look at the data and analyze it in a way that makes sense to the customer. 

So now we can show you the data with full visualization of the data at the edge no matter where you are, but you don’t want to spend your whole day in front of the screen monitoring it. So what we have is an alert mechanism in our platform. The customer sets thresholds, for example: water level below ‘x,’ temperature above ‘x,’ and pressure above ‘x.’ Then you can get alerts from our systems when these thresholds are met and are sent out on our platform by text message or email to all relevant people who can act accordingly based on what the data is telling them. It is then down to the end user to make a decision and take action in response to real-time data insight. Alarms, while similar to alerts, notify people when there is an unexpected condition. This might be a power failure or an equipment problem. 

What is really important to us is the reliability factor in the field of getting your data out. The biggest struggle for all companies that use IoT or IIoT is that they cannot get their data out in a reliable way and in the way they need it. With IoT data, they don’t need to send people out to manually read the devices, which is costly and what we are trying to prevent. With our platform, we avoid this by adding a means of communication for the devices. Data flow lets people see critical variations like temperature, pressure, air, flooding and tank levels and helps them meet regulatory and monitoring requirements.

The good thing is that because our platform is agnostic, it doesn’t matter what kind of sensors you are using or what method of communication we are using to get the data from the sensors into our platform. It comes down to what is your level of confidence with the communications you have on site and we would recommend the best option. 

We are constantly putting new technology, new features and items on the platform to cater to customer needs. 

You have partnered with several companies to help provide the Satellite connection. 

On the satellite side, we are a Global Reseller in ORBCOMM’s Partner program which allows us to resell their satellite devices. ORBCOMM, a manufacturer of very small omnidirectional terminals, has multiple I/O ports and two-way data. On the radio side, we have our own hardware and on the LTE mobile side, we work with the customer to select the most suitable hardware. 

The other part is satellite connectivity. For this, we have partnered with Viasat. We are offering their data service which is not as susceptible to rain fade as other technologies, reducing the risk of signal degradation that allows us to have a very high uptime. 

The good thing about this approach is that we innovate alongside both companies, so when there is new technology, we find out about it very quickly and can also provide feedback on the design program. 

You have recently announced your proof of concept program. 

Yes, what is very important is for people to know the solution will work for them. So what we now offer our potential customers is a service where we accommodate a proof of concept. We can give them a terminal, help them with airtime (the time it takes for the data to transfer). We can also help them with evaluation, set-up and install to make a turnkey solution for the customer so that they can see that it works. 

If you currently can’t get your data out of the field and we turn up telling them that it is easy, it is understandable if they are a bit skeptical. So we say: here is a terminal that you can use for a period of time, you don’t need to buy it, we give you a limited amount of airtime and all you need to do is provide a test plan. Then, we ask: What are the criteria to make this test a success for you? 

So a use case of this could be agricultural, they might go “we have ‘X’ number of fields, we want to take a snapshot of them taken every 12 hours and reported back.” What would you do with this request? 

We would carry out an onboarding process. We onboard it with one of our engineers, along with customer service and find out all of the information about the use case. What sensors are you using? What is your polling rate? What is your data package? What are the parameters that you want to measure? What data is important for you? Based on this we propose a solution, and if this meets their requirements, then we go ahead. 

With these industries, they may not have the satellite skillset, they just want to see a report. 

Correct. They know how to grow crops, or extract oil, but don’t want to have to know how to run a satellite backhaul service. So that is why it is so important for us to have such a good rapport with them during the onboarding process, because that is where we make sure both sides know what is required. 

We are confident that it will be a success because we have done it before (FreeWave has been in business since 1993). We have so many sites where our solution is already running. It is not an “if,” but a “when” are you going to install and go live.

With terrestrial networks, like your cell phone, you don’t know how it is working, you just know it has made a connection. Are you making a similar experience for satellite? 

Correct. This is how we want to make the experience with satellite. From a high level, a satellite terminal is nothing more than a cell phone. It just makes a connection but instead of connecting to a nearby tower, it is connected to a satellite. It is nothing to be afraid of and to cross that hurdle is where our Proof of Concept comes into place. It takes the scary part away from the equation. That’s why we want to show it works for your own application and show you how simple it can be for them. 

We will walk you through the process to understand what is happening and to make it an  experience that this is something they need and cannot do without. As I said in the beginning, the name of our game is remote and unmanned. Every industry goes further and further away from urbanization, into the fields, and mountains where there is no connectivity, and it doesn’t stop. 

That is the very cool thing that we have with the partnership with Viasat. We are in touch with what is new on the market, what they see happening in various industries and how we can adapt. The same is true with our partnership with Orbcomm. We are working with the biggest players in the market, allowing us to have a unique platform with unique technology and features that present the data in a way that the customer can really benefit. 

This will also bring areas with limited LTE coverage onto a level playing field. 

It is a perfect mix and match with people who don’t have any coverage and need to have a different solution and are open to looking into satellite communications. In a lot of LATAM, Africa, India and the Far East, there is very spotty or non-existent LTE and that is where we come in. Even in the USA, if a pipeline goes from Canada to Houston, it goes through territory where there is nothing. 

One of the biggest misconceptions with a lot of potential users is that satellite is too expensive. It was years ago, but now the whole market has changed and has made it much more accessible. It costs  a little more than LTE, but if the data is mission critical and you need to rely on the data, how much would it cost to drive out to a sensor to read it? 

We can also tailor the package to the customer’s needs to make sure they are not overpaying for what they require. We can ask the customer: do they really need to see the water level of a tank every 7 seconds, when every 6 to 12 hours would be more suitable?