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The Catalan satellite telecom operator Sateliot, a global provider of continuous IoT connectivity merging satellite and terrestrial networks under 5G protocol, will offer roaming service from space to telecom operators to help expand and democratize the Internet of Things.
To do so, the company has joined forces with the research and innovation center i2CAT Foundation in a pioneering project that adapts network core (respecting the 3GPP interfaces) to communicate all the elements involved in the process: nanosatellites, base stations, IoT devices, and operators.
Thanks to this novel software, the Sateliot nanosatellites will work as telecom towers from space, offering 5G IoT coverage to mobile operators. This will be directed via a roaming service that allows for global and massive IoT internet service, without discontinuity and amplifying the coverage of terrestrial networks.
New business opportunities for telecom companies
Large scale IoT applications will thus face its biggest challenge: offering coverage to 90% of the planet and closing the digital divide. Operators will attract new business models and new clients, assuring total connectivity at all times.
According to Marco Guadalupi, CTO of Sateliot, “this new core developed with the research team at i2CAT is part of the company’s know-how and opens new business opportunities for telecoms by solving some of their limitations with this new coverage extension service.”
For Sergi Figuerola, Ph.D., CTIO of the i2CAT Foundation, “this strategic cooperation with Sateliot allows for a valorization of our knowledge and for the development of an innovative solution that solves the technological challenge of offering IoT services to nanosatellites in the LEO orbit, according to 3GPP interfaces. It also contributes to the New Space ecosystem and to future services that will be developed around 5G.”
The development of this system is one of the projects included in the Research and Development Plan in which Sateliot will invest 20 million euros in coming years, the biggest R&D investment in satellite 5G in Europe.
