The Luxembourg company OQ Technology said 17 December, that it managed to connect a commercial IoT chipset (IoT) directly to one of its satellites in low Earth orbit, using proprietary software based on 3GPP standards for mobile communications.
Testing was carried out using an unmodified low-power cellular module nRF9151 from the Norwegian company Nordic Semiconductor, which is commonly used in sensors for tracking and monitoring. This is the same module, which was used for a similar non-terrestrial network demonstration (NTN), announced in October by the Spanish company Sateliot, which used software from the Danish Gatehouse Satcom.
"Our vertical integration across NTN's software stack and satellite operations reduces cost and complexity for customers, - said the founder and CEO of OQ, Omar Kayse, – and supports large-scale deployment of IoT devices in government, corporate and private industrial networks".
The operator already commercially provides IoT satellite communications using its own devices, in particular for private 5G NTN networks, serving corporate clients, such as energy company Aramco. Thanks to confirmation that, that a widely used standards-based chipset can work on their network without hardware or software modifications, Kaise noted, that the same modules can be used by OEMs and mobile operators through roaming partnerships.
OQ deployed 10 small satellites to date and is now using its S-band spectrum to provide IoT communications to remote devices in many countries, including Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda and Nigeria.
The company plans to add more 30 satellites next year to demonstrate two-way direct (D2D) exchange text messages between devices, tending to expand to close 100 satellites for three years to improve coverage and provide broader D2D services, such as voice communication.
OQ announced last month, that delivered an emergency broadcast directly from one of its satellites to an unmodified smartphone, positioning the company as a European controlled alternative for Direct-to-Device direct communication.
Source: https://spacenews.com