Juan A. Fraire

Researcher in Space Networking and Informatics

Inria CONICET Saarland University

Publications Conference paper · Satellite IoT · 2021

Uplink Transmission Probability Functions for LoRa-Based Direct-to-Satellite IoT: A Case Study

Kai Vogelgesang, Juan A. Fraire, and Holger Hermanns

IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), pp. 1–6, 2021

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Abstract

Direct-to-Satellite IoT allows devices on the Earth surface to directly reach Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites passing over them. Although an appealing approach towards a truly global IoT vision, scalability issues as well as highly dynamic topologies ask for dedicated protocol adaptations supported by novel models. This paper contributes to this research by introducing estimators and a transmission probability function to dynamically control the contending set of devices on a framed slotted Aloha model compatible with the LoRaWAN specification. In particular, we discuss techniques that account for particularities in the dynamics of sparse DtS-IoT constellations. Simulation analyses of a realistic case study show that >86% of the theoretical throughput is achievable in practice.

Cite

DOI 10.1109/globecom46510.2021.9685152

BibTeX
@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/globecom/VogelgesangFH21,
  author    = {Kai Vogelgesang and Juan A. Fraire and Holger Hermanns},
  title     = {Uplink Transmission Probability Functions for LoRa-Based Direct-to-Satellite IoT: {A} Case Study},
  booktitle = {IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM)},
  pages     = {1--6},
  publisher = {{IEEE}},
  year      = {2021},
  doi       = {10.1109/globecom46510.2021.9685152}
}

More on satellite IoT

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.