EchoStar building global S-band network for satellite IoT

Author: EIS Release Date: Feb 15, 2023

EchoStar, the U.S. satcom and Internet services provider, has turned to Astro Digital for the construction of a global S-band mobile satellite service (MSS) network addressing IoT.

 

Astro Digital is a designer, manufacturer and operator of small satellite systems, and under the agreement it will manufacture the satellites for the EchoStar LEO constellation.

 

Planned to begin operation in 2024, the satellites will deliver global IoT, machine-to-machine (M2M) and data services. EchoStar will operate the constellation from its Australian subsidiary, EchoStar Global.

 

 

According to the company, satellites in the constellation will feature software-defined radio with onboard storage and processing to power two-way device connectivity, and they will support the LoRa protocol for low power, long-range applications.

 

 

 

With support for 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) services, the constellation will serve as a foundation for EchoStar to engineer 5G New Radio (NR) based NTN capabilities according to 3GPP release 17 specifications, says EchoStar.

 

“These new capabilities will fill a gap in the connected ecosystem, greatly expanding worldwide IoT interoperability,” said Josh Williams, managing director, EchoStar Global Australia. “Our team, together with Astro Digital, has already begun integration of our Australian-based operations to bring to market a truly global solution with consistent and reliable network performance.”

 

The company also operates an MSS network in Europe – through its subsidiary EchoStar Mobile Ltd – using the geostationary EchoStar XXI satellite, which will interoperate with the new LEO constellation.

 

Satellite IoT

Other competitors in the SatIoT field include Astrocast – which made its bidirectional satellite IoT service commercially available at the start of 2022, aimed at connecting IoT devices globally for use outside of cell-based terrestrial networks – and Wyld Networks, which launched its satellite IoT service in December 2022, enabling battery-based applications to be deployed in remote locations without terrestrial connectivity.

 

Also, OQ Technology, a 5G-based satellite IOT operator, recently closed a €13 million Series A funding round, which was led by Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Saudi oil and gas company Aramco.