California-based Semtech and mobile satellite services provider EchoStar Mobile have launched an initiative to test satellite connectivity services enabled by the LoRaWan protocol.

A subsidiary of Colorado-based EchoStar, EchoStar Mobile is an Irish company with commercial operations headquartered in the UK and a data centre in Germany. The mobile satellite services provider offers connectivity across Europe through a converged satellite and terrestrial network.

“With our technology collaborator Semtech, and as a new member of the LoRa Alliance, we are excited to explore the use of next-generation LoRaWan technology to bring new satellite-based connectivity services to the IoT market,” said Telemaco Melia, senior director at EchoStar Mobile. “New LoRa satellite services are expected to bring lower price points to the market, opening up a larger addressable opportunity across key industries including logistics, asset tracking, transportation, utilities, agriculture and maritime.”

The LoRa Alliance, an open, non-profit global association that develops, maintains and promotes the LoRaWan protocol for LPWANs, recently expanded the LoRaWan protocol to include LR-FHSS long-range, frequency-hopping spread spectrum data rates. LR-FHSS extends the LoRaWan protocol’s support to enable direct data links from end nodes to satellites by leveraging either the ISM unlicensed band or, in the case of EchoStar Mobile, through licensed spectrum. LR-FHSS can support millions of end nodes and delivers robustness for IoT services.

“It’s estimated that only ten per cent of the world’s surface has terrestrial connectivity,” said Marc Pegulu, vice president at Semtech. “Semtech’s LoRa devices integrated with LR-FHSS allow satellites to connect IoT devices in the vast remote areas around the globe to enable IoT with an unmatched continuum of coverage and performance. Our work with EchoStar Mobile and LoRa Alliance members is expected to achieve complementary satellite and terrestrial LoRaWan connectivity services for customers who require global coverage from land to sea to air.”

Semtech is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance.

Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, EchoStar is a specialist in secure communications technologies through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services businesses.