Dutch firm Gatehouse’s SatCom subsidiary is working with Singapore-based Addvalue Innovation to develop a 5G NB-IoT satellite communication terminal.

As of January this year, more than 1900 SmallSats have been launched, and the number is expected to grow rapidly within the years to come.

The two companies will jointly develop the 5G NB-IoT satcom terminal and collaborate with companies that aspire to take advantages of fast-growing 5G satellite systems.

Standardisation will be a key factor in achieving a sustainable business in the satellite IoT communication market. The 5G NB-IoT satcom terminal, based on 3GPP standards, will function with all 5G satellite networks worldwide. This will drive scalability and globalisation of satellite communication, thereby allowing operators to move their focus from technical problems towards their core business providing improved services to their customers.

The availability of standards, apart from supporting the scalability of business, will, in the short- and long-term, help save costs and end the hassle of low or no coverage.

Gatehouse SatCom, a company with track records of satellite communication protocols, is poised to build space-based 5G NB-IoT technology so end-users can look forward to seamless IoT and M2M connections for monitoring, surveillance and control of equipment and installations in applications such as agriculture, transport, offshore, and oil and gas.

“To secure a lead position and really profit from the introduction of satellite 5G, one needs to get ready now to be among the first to introduce the new ground-breaking technology to one’s customers,” said Thomas Scott Jensen, senior vice president of Gatehouse SatCom. “The NB-IoT software, envisioned by Gatehouse SatCom for non-terrestrial coverage, has the advantage of being based on a standard that can be applied to any satellite system conveying the same. Paired with the standard 3GPP software protocols developed by Gatehouse SatCom and the satellite terminal technology developed by Addvalue Innovation, the resultant 5G NB-IoT satcom terminal stands to benefit greatly from the revolutionising change expected to befall on the entire satellite communication industry with the soon expected roll-out of 5G for non-terrestrial networks.”

Addvalue Innovation, a bespoke designer of terminal hardware and connectivity, provides integrated satellite communications across land, aviation, maritime and space segments. For example, it has certified and type approved IP-based satellite communications for fishery regulatory authorities to monitor fishing vessels at sea and for low Earth orbit satellite operators to have on-demand and timely connection with their assets in space.

“The confluence of AI technologies and 5G connectivity is destined to be an age of boundless smart and autonomous applications,” said Tan Khai Pang, CTO of Addvalue Innovation. “Space-based 5G NB-IoT will play a significant role in such an exciting era and we have to be ready for it. This collaboration with Gatehouse is based on our long-standing relationship since 2002. Through this collaboration, we look forward to bringing our connectivity for IoT to a whole new level and be future-proof to open up tremendous business opportunities in a plethora of IoT applications that are not yet currently economically realisable.”