Narrowband-IoT Connectivity over Satellite
The partnership brings 5G-ready NB-IoT over satellite for the first time and delivers massive cost and interoperability advantages for the IoT industry
Skylo, maker of the world’s most affordable and ubiquitous network that connects any machine or sensor, today announced a partnership with Sony Semiconductor Israel (Sony, formerly known as Altair Semiconductor). With the partnership, Skylo and Sony are the first to develop and deploy cellular IoT chipsets (branded “Altair”) that can connect via geostationary satellites and that leverage the standardized, 5G-ready, NB-IoT protocol.
The partnership also makes significant contributions to 3GPP future specifications, which will help standardize and accelerate the adoption of NB-IoT over satellite. In addition, this innovative new use of Sony’s Altair cellular IoT chipsets dramatically reduces the cost for IoT applications to connect via traditional satellite networks; until the launch of this solution, satellite connectivity was cost-prohibitive and required custom-built protocols.
Skylo, which was founded in late 2017 by foremost researchers including Dr. Andrew Kalman, is building an efficient, global NB-IoT network over satellite for millions of presently unconnected devices, machines, and sensors. Sony Semiconductor Israel is a leading provider of cellular IoT chipsets. Through this partnership, both parties have extended existing cellular IoT chipsets to communicate directly over Skylo’s hosted satellite network.
