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South Australian
firm plans IoT dedicated small satellite fleet
South Australian remote Internet of Things
specialist Myriota is deploying a 30-site trial
network across the country as it prepares for long
term plans to launch its own IoTdedicated small
satellite network.
The firm is deploying water monitoring devices at
key pastoral properties around the country in the
next few weeks as a proof of concept for plans to
take advantage of the changing economics in the
satellite sector and launch its own fleet.
Myriota has developed its own low-cost monitoring
devices as part of a project cofunded by the
Australian and New Zealand CRC for Spatial
Information. The units contain transmitters that
allow for information to be transferred directly to
low-earth orbit satellites. While other companies
have proposed satellite-based IoT using ground
infrastructure, Myriota is pioneering the
direct-to-orbit model that transfers small amounts
of data directly to the satellite. The platform
currently uses satellites from Canadian provider
ExactEarth, an early seed investor in the company.
Myriota business development executive Tom Rayner
told CommsDay that the firm’s model was ideal for
remote communications in terms of both cost and
coverage compared to other technologies.
“You're not going to get the same level of coverage
with 3G/4G services or the low power, wide area
technologies like Sigfox and LoRa,” Rayner said.
“We're fundamentally different and the ‘smarts’ in
the devices that allows for direct-to-orbit
communications allows us to offer a disruptive
model.”
Myriota aims to showcase its technology in the
agriculture sector, but Rayner said the same model
could be transferred to IoT applications in other
sectors including mining, logistics, maritime and
defence. He also noted that significant interest had
come from other markets, including New Zealand,
Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.
The first of the tank water monitoring devices has
this week been deployed at partner the University of
New England, in Armidale, with the remaining units
to be deployed throughout Australia in the coming
weeks.
Myriota cloud architecture principal engineer Andrew
Beck said the installation had been deliberately
designed to be as simple and robust as possible.
“Anyone who can use a set of pliers and zip ties
will be able to install these devices. The
communications technology is advanced but it needs
to be very easy to use for the farmer,” he
suggested.
Sensors in the devices will collect tank level data,
with Myriota’s transmitters then sending that data
direct to the satellites. From there the message
will be transmitted to the cloud, where the data
will be interpreted and sent to the grazier.
The platform will be evaluated over the next six
months. Myriota was first spun off from the
University of South Australia in 2015. Shareholders
include ExactEarth, UniSA Ventures and co-founders
Alex Grant and David Haley. Grant also co-founded
South Australian connected car vendor Cohda
Wireless, while Haley was Cohda's lead research
engineer between 2004-2011.
As well as moving into new verticals and eyeing off
international expansion, Rayner said the company saw
itself as a future provider of low-cost connectivity
in remote parts of the country, which would include
launching its own small satellites as early as next
year.
“We want to take advantage of all the interesting
things that are happening in this sector, especially
as the costs to launch are becoming cheaper all the
time,” he said. Geoff Long, Commsday |
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