Starting on Oct. 3rd, 2023. SLICES-Spain (SLICES-Spain), through its main node (SLICES-Madrid), has started a program for use of Satellite for IoT devices for international researchers.
What do we offer?
We offer access to a pool of 54 Echostar LoRa-enabled evaluation kits (EVKs), available for use by European researchers. These kits are composed of a radio module plus a Integrated OEM EM2050 NUCLEO board STM32WB55 with Arduino Uno R3 shield layout.
The EM2050-EVK Evaluation Kit is designed to allow system integrators to prototype and test solutions utilizing the Echostar Mobile (EM) direct-to-satellite LoRa®-enabled IoT network. It provides a platform for easily integrating with a large variety of sensors and applications while testing them in real-world scenarios on the network.
The EM evaluation kit contains all the key components to build an IoT solution:
- Evaluation Board implementing Industry standard Arduino Uno R3 Shield format
- EM2050 OEM Module
- STM32WB55 Nucleo Development Board
- EMAS100 PCB S-band Antenna
With the EM2050-EVK Evaluation Kit, researchers can create a proof of concept (PoC) with minimum effort. By simply integrating the specific sensors and battery and enclosing them in a box, the solution can be tested in any outdoor scenario.
Technical approach: an introduction of the Echostar devices
Figure below provides a high-level overview of Echostar Mobile (EM) Network Architecture.
The EM2050 Module is a dual mode module that integrates the latest Semtech LR1120 chipset, that enables satellite communications on EchoStar Mobile’s S-Band LoRa Network as well as the terrestrial 868/915MHz ISM Bands. This approach allows a simplified product design process for system integrators to handle the requirements of the Satellite S-Band Network.
The sensors, integrated within a device enabled with the EM2050 module, will transmit messages directly to the EchoStar-XXI Satellite. EM’s Germany Teleport, which hosts the LoRa Satellite Gateway and Network Server, will receive the data and forward it to the public or private Application Server via a secure WAN.
The Satellite communication is real-time and bidirectional, that means that it supports both UL message from device to satellite and DL answer from satellite to device.
Data sent and received by the EVKs can be processed through Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), which can be used to develop serverless applications.
Are you interested?
If you are a researcher and want to get access to some EM EVKs, this is what we offer:
- Lease of EM EVKs in batches from 1 to 10 devices (larger batches can be negotiated), in slots from 1 to 6 months (longer periods can be negotiated).
- Free for research use, only shipment (also to return them) needs to be covered by the researchers.
- Access to EM technical documentation.
If interested, please fill in the form below, in which a short 1-page document research project description is required. Requirements:
- Requests should come from researcher teams affiliated with a public research institution. Access from private institutions is also allowed, but it might be subject to a fee (to be evaluated on a case by case basis).
- The provided EVKs cannot be leased to a third party, nor used for any type of commercial use.
- If a device is damaged due to improper use, reparation costs will be covered by the researcher team.
- Access to some results data should be provided in open access to the research community.
- Agreement to advertise the use for research of the devices is granted to SLICES-Spain, prior approval of the text to be advertised by the researcher team.
- Shipment of the EVKs from SLICES-Spain to the researchers and back will be covered by the researcher team.
Queries for additional information should be sent to: cjbc@it.uc3m.es