I want to build a device to transmit a very small amount of telemetry data through satellite communications to a server in my house. Where do I start? Would the LORA technology be the best choice? Are there any development boards out there I could use?

 

You are probably about a year early to deploy LoRa devices for satellite. Check Lacuna for some information, but don’t expect much without contacting sales.

There are other options coming online like Swarm, but while they do have active customers they’ve shut down sales for new customers on their VHF network due to capacity. They are looking a direct cellular connectivity, which is a new direction where devices will use LTE or 5G to talk to satellites and the birds will use it to talk to cell sites for downlink. (so far as I understand, this could be mistaken, practical information is pretty hard to come by.

LoRa is going to be the winner for cost and simplicity of deployment when the various players get stable. Probably using LEO constellations.The LoRaWAN technology will ultimately be the best choice, but for immediate deployment, you are probably looking at a high cost solution from for a GEO (geosynchronous) operator like Inmarsat or Irridium.

 

Oh, and don’t fail to investigate the possibility of terrestrial LoRa. LoRaWAN can communicate unreasonably far if you trade off data rate which doesn’t seem to be a problem in your case.

 

Thank you, Ya'akov ... at this point I'm a complete neophyte on this subject. Your input is thoroughly appreciated, as always. You've reminded me that I have a friend that works for Iridium, I'm going to ask him what his company has to offer and if he has any knowledge on this subject in general.

 

One question, Ya'akov. The project I'm working on requires about 100 sensors spaced several hundred meters each in an area where there's no GPRS network signal. Suppose I could "chain" their transceivers together in such a way that they all wake up (turn on) at the same time, and then the first transceiver in the network transmits its data to the second transceiver, and then said transceiver transmits its own data plus the data from the first transceiver to the third one in the chain. And so on. And since each transceiver's data consists only of two bytes, in the end the accumulated data being received at the last transceiver is still quite manageable. Said last transceiver would then be responsible to connect itself to an available GPRS network and upload all the data.

Do you think that my idea is workable? ... it so, which wireless technology would you recommend for the transceivers? ... I'm open to all suggestions. I even considered using modulated laser beams, but quite often there's no available line of sight between them.

 

One question, Ya'akov. The project I'm working on requires about 100 sensors spaced several hundred meters each in an area where there's no GPRS network signal. Suppose I could "chain" their transceivers together in such a way that they all wake up (turn on) at the same time, and then the first transceiver in the network transmits its data to the second transceiver, and then said transceiver transmits its own data plus the data from the first transceiver to the third one in the chain. And so on. And since each transceiver's data consists only of two bytes, in the end the accumulated data being received at the last transceiver is still quite manageable. Said last transceiver would then be responsible to connect itself to an available GPRS network and upload all the data.

Do you think that my idea is workable? ... it so, which wireless technology would you recommend for the transceivers? ... I'm open to all suggestions. I even considered using modulated laser beams, but quite often there's no available line of sight between them.

Investigate mesh networks. LoRaWAN and a mesh could be the right thing for you.