According to foreign media reports, Japan's Rakuten Mobile has invested in AST SpaceMobile, a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company, which plans to make wireless services reach the Japanese population. Now, the operator has begun a partnership with the University of Tokyo to expand the reach of IoT devices and services through ltE-based LEO satellite networks.
The focus of this work is on NB-IoT, a technology that does not require a large amount of spectral resources and is ideal for low-power devices that intermittently send small amounts of data, such as smart meters and sensors.
The plan is to build an IoT network using LEO satellites to achieve 100% geographic coverage and provide long-distance connectivity for existing NB-IoT devices, enabling what they call "IoT hyper-coverage" and identifying new use cases for services that connect NB-IoT and LTE devices.
Rakuten said that by building satellite networks, low-cost IoT services will become possible for areas such as mountains, remote islands or the sea that are not normally covered by networks.
The network will be able to collect data directly from IoT sensors – similar to AST SpaceMobile's targeting of smartphones. AST's investors also include Vodafone, American Tower, Cisneros and Samsung. They envisioned an revenue-sharing model that would enable seamless roaming between terrestrial cellular networks without the need for specialized hardware. In March 2019, the company launched its first satellite, initially focusing on 4G, followed by 5G. Rakuten said it would work with U.S.-based SpaceMobile to cover about 4 percent of Japan's population, which the carrier's terrestrial mobile network cannot cover.
In the new R&D project, Rakuten is focusing on building LTE-based satellite communications networks through a partnership with SpaceMobile. Rakuten and the University of Tokyo will conduct research and development to stabilize and optimize LTE satellite communications and develop and deploy NB-IoT software for LEO. These partners will work together to investigate use cases and conduct IoT hyper-coverage experiments.
Rakuten's new joint R&D program will run from November this year until the end of March 2025. The research activities fall under the theme of the "Beyond 5G R&D Promotion Project" of the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT) in Japan.
Last month, Rakuten embarked on a separate effort under NICT's Beyond 5G project, working with partners Nagoya University and Japan's OKI Electric Co., Ltd. to explore technologies for the next generation of autonomous mobile networks.
In terms of IoT, Luxembourg-based OQ Technology is another LEO satellite company targeting NB-IoT connectivity. OQ Technology launched its first satellite this summer and is targeting verticals such as oil and gas, maritime, logistics, transportation and drones to support the Internet of Things. (C114 Ace)