08 April 2021
LoRa, Wireless RF, Internet of Things, Space, Satellite
在农村地区部署物联网 (IoT) 网络的原因有很多。但将数十个或数百个传感器连接到网络也可能是一场噩梦。风力涡轮机或油井采用各种传感器来测量其环境和性能。如果此类能量采集设施恰好位于稳定的蜂窝网络覆盖范围内并持续连接到互联网，那么其经营者就太幸运了。漂洋过海的货柜也是如此。虽然我们可以使用单独的识别器件轻松追踪它们，但在海上，就必须完全使用卫星来收发信号。
Traditionally, there hasn’t been a good option for connecting low-power, low-data devices to the Internet when they’re in an area without good coverage. Satellite services tend to be expensive: Most cost on the order of US $1 to send the amount of data roughly equivalent to that in a text message. Hundreds of IoT devices sending equivalent amounts of data as status updates, multiple times per day or even multiple times per hour, would break the bank.
Swarm, a satellite start-up that uses CubeSats about the size of a grilled cheese sandwich to provide IoT coverage, has instead developed a satellite network specifically for IoT networks that would otherwise struggle to connect to the Internet. To do so, the company has adapted the popular IoT wireless technology LoRa®, turning it into a high-flying—and even longer-ranging—solution.
Swarm’s tiny satellites previously placed the company in hot water with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) when Swarm launched four initial satellites without the agency’s permission. The FCC had denied Swarm the right to launch the satellites because of the agency’s concerns that the satellites were too small to be effectively tracked—but still large enough to cause serious damage if they collided with another object in orbit. As IEEE Spectrum reported at the time, the FCC gave the company the dubious distinction of being behind the first illegal satellite launch in history. After a US $900,000 fine for the illegal launch, Swarm has begun to realize its LoRa-based satellite network.
This is an excerpt of an article originally published in IEEE Spectrum by Michael Koziol.
Read the full article at the link below.
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