Publications Journal article · Satellite IoT · 2021

RESS-IoT: A Scalable Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for Direct-to-Satellite IoT

Raydel Ortigueira, Juan A. Fraire, Alex Becerra, Tomás Ferrer, and Sandra Céspedes

IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 164440–164453, 2021

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling unprecedented applications based on the transport of small data volumes to and from constrained devices. When end devices or sensor nodes are located in very remote zones with inaccessible topography, Direct-to-Satellite IoT (DtS-IoT) has been proposed as an appealing solution. In DtS-IoT, isolated sensor nodes can directly relay data to and from inexpensive nanosatellites (i.e., CubeSats). However, because both sensor nodes and CubeSats operate on very limited energy supply and storage, the efficient management of power-hungry communication sub-systems is essential. Thus, specific Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols are needed to ensure the minimal overhead while considering DtS-IoT scalability and channel dynamics. In this work, we contribute with REserve-and-Send Sift-IoT (RESS-IoT), a scalable and energy-efficient DtS-IoT MAC protocol, combining the LoRa physical layer with a novel link scheduling approach. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our solution provides up to four times the energy savings in the satellite and up to seven times the energy savings at the sensor node on the ground with respect to state-of-the-art IoT protocols.

Cite

DOI 10.1109/access.2021.3134246

BibTeX

@article{DBLP:journals/access/OrtigueiraFBFC21,
  author  = {Raydel Ortigueira and Juan A. Fraire and Alex Becerra and Tom{\'{a}}s Ferrer and Sandra C{\'{e}}spedes},
  title   = {RESS-IoT: {A} Scalable Energy-Efficient {MAC} Protocol for Direct-to-Satellite IoT},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  volume  = {9},
  pages   = {164440--164453},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.1109/access.2021.3134246}
}

More on satellite IoT

Space-Terrestrial Integrated Internet of Things: Challenges and Opportunities Juan A. Fraire, Oana Iova, and Fabrice Valois IEEE Communications Magazine, 2022
Abstract
Large geographical regions of our planet remain uncovered by terrestrial network connections. Sparse and dense constellations of near Earth orbit satellites can bridge this gap by providing Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity on a worldwide scale in a flexible and cost-effective manner. This article presents STEREO: a novel space-terrestrial integrated IoT architecture spanning direct- and indirect-to-satellite access from IoT assets on the surface. Framed on the identified requirements, we analyze NB-IoT and LoRa/LoRaWAN features to put these technologies forward as appealing candidates for future satellite IoT deployments. Finally, we list and discuss the key open research challenges to be addressed in order to achieve successful space-terrestrial IoT integration.

HAL Publisher
Sparse Satellite Constellation Design for Global and Regional Direct-to-Satellite IoT Services Gabriel Maiolini Capez, Santiago Henn, Juan A. Fraire, and Roberto Garello IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 2022
Abstract
In this article, we introduce and design sparse constellations for direct-to-satellite Internet of Things (DtS-IoT). DtS-IoT does not require a ground infrastructure, because the devices are directly connected to low earth orbit satellites acting as orbiting gateways. The key idea of sparse constellations is to significantly reduce the number of in-orbit DtS-IoT satellites by a proper dimensioning of the delivery delay anyway present in resource-constrained IoT services and an optimal positioning of the orbiting gateways. First, we analyze long-range modulation (LoRa)/LoRaWAN and narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standards and derive realistic constraints on the maximum gap time between two consecutive passing-by satellites. Then, we introduce and optimize an algorithm to design quasi-optimal topologies for sparse IoT constellations. Finally, we apply our design to both global and regional coverage and we analyze the tradeoff between latency, number of orbit planes, and total number of satellites. Results show that sparse constellations can provide world-wide IoT coverage with only 12.5 and 22.5% of the satellites required by traditional dense constellations considering 3 and 2-h gaps. Also, we show that region-specific coverage of Africa and Europe can be achieved with only four and three satellites for LoRa/LoRaWAN and NB-IoT, respectively.

PORTO@Iris (Politecnico di Torino)Publisher
Direct-To-Satellite IoT - A Survey of the State of the Art and Future Research Perspectives - Backhauling the IoT Through LEO Satellites Juan A. Fraire, Sandra Céspedes, and Nicola Accettura International Conference on Ad-Hoc Networks and Wireless (ADHOC-NOW), 2019
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has drawn an enormous attention into the scientific community thanks to unimaginable before applications newly available in everyday life. The technological landscape behind the implied surge of automated interactions among humans and machines has been shaped by plugging into the Internet very low power devices that can perform monitoring and actuation operations through very cheap circuitry. The most challenging IoT scenarios include deployments of low power devices dispersed over wide geographical areas. In such scenarios, satellites will play a key role in bridging the gap towards a pervasive IoT able to easily handle disaster recovery scenarios (earthquakes, tsunamis, and flash floods, etc.), where the presence of a resilient backhauling communications infrastructure is crucial. In these scenarios, Direct-to-Satellite IoT (DtS-IoT) connectivity is preferred as no intermediate ground gateway is required, facilitating and speeding up the deployment of wide coverage IoT infrastructure. In this work, an in-depth yet thorough survey on the state-of-the-art of DtS-IoT is presented. The available physical layer techniques specifically designed for the IoT satellite link are described, and the suitability of both the current Medium Access Control protocol and the upper layer protocols to communicate over space links will be argued. We also discuss the design of the overall satellite LEO constellation and topology to be considered in DtS-IoT networks.

HAL Publisher

Satellite IoT: the topic page All 38 papers on this topic