The Swiss satellite operator claims the service has a significant role to play in a workable IoT system – thanks to its ability to send commands back to assets, rather than just receive data.
This enables an array of new use cases at a comparably cost-effective price, says the firm, including the remote management of equipment – negating the need for costly or hard to find labour.
Farmers, for instance, can command silos to release food, open gates or manage irrigation systems, without any need for human interaction.
And with livestock too, Astrocast’s CEO Fabien Jordan says using the tech for remote tracking of cattle will enable them to identify diseased animals quickly.
Other potential uses cases include utilities companies being able to remotely control water management systems in line with flood prevention strategies.
According to Astrocast, in remote deployment device size and power consumption are key and it claims that its devices only transmit data when satellites are in range, instead of continuously.
“This radically increases battery life, especially in applications that do not require constant information updates. In addition, this reduces the price of data for end users,” the firm added in its press release.
Using its own recently launched nanosatellite constellation in low Earth orbit, Astrocast claims to support connectivity in applications in asset tracking telemetry and telematics.
Jordan added that while organisations had struggled in the past to create a business case for deploying IoT solutions that offer global coverage as well as efficient and reliable connectivity, now there was an opportunity to use SIoT to “ increase visibility, transparency, and control over assets globally”.
He added: “In the past, these solutions have been too complex, costly, or simply unavailable. But, thanks to developments in satellite IoT technology, this is changing; and organisations that recognise the potential of going beyond terrestrial IoT will be able to create new competitive advantages too.”
Share
