below the minimum or maximum average for the past week. This is where AI and machine learning are tremendously helpful because they can process vast amounts of data accurately and at speed.

SCADA vs. IoT

SCADA has been around for some 30 years and has been highly valuable in monitoring industrial processes and critical infrastructure over a large and/or disparate area. However, its limitations stem from the fact that systems are normally built using specialist hardware and priority protocols like Modbus, so they’re not interoperable, nor are they industry-standard.

IoT, on the other hand, has become the industry standard because it uses communication protocols like lightweight messaging MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport). We can also carry IP data for IoT. The sensors connect to it using established low power wide area networks (LPWAN), such as LoRaWAN and Sigfox, along with other industry-standard providers. In fact, there are hundreds of different gateway vendors out there that convert from these LPWAN standards to IP so that they can be transmitted across satellite or any network.

Flexibility and Scalability

Satellite IoT is becoming increasingly accessible to organizations, including those who test its capabilities and dip their toes in the water without committing to CapEx costs.

Scalability at speed is also possible because the cost of sensors has dropped dramatically in recent years, while the variety of LPWAN sensor technologies has grown. Furthermore, you no longer need a stand-alone IoT satellite system because you can leverage existing hub equipment and fire up a satellite IoT system on it.

IoT has vastly improved over the past 15 years and it’s getting better all the time. Users can therefore do much more than before. Now it’s possible to pull in data sources and use machine learning at a higher level because you're interoperating with different services rather than relying on the closed network that SCADA offers.

IoT in Action

Going back to our example at the start, better cellular coverage could alert teams to a broken-down vehicle in a remote location. What’s preferable, of course, is being able to prevent the breakdown from happening in the first place. This is where IoT really comes into its own.

In this scenario, you could use the Sigfox network to connect to the vehicle’s diagnostics to see whether there has been a change in tire pressure and engine temperature. There might be other sensors running on LoRaWAN, and additional sensors elsewhere.

The data from all these sources, all with different gateway protocols, can be converted into IP and sent over the satellite network. Greater collaboration between IoT vendors is also making it possible to pull in more data sources. All this makes it easier for companies to deliver a service without having multiple gateways or multiple conversion points to address, making deployment faster and more cost-effective.

Flexibility is Key

More and more, we’re seeing the barriers to satellite IoT adoption being broken down as the number of options available to organizations grows. Open networks, for one, help to bring down the cost of ownership, giving users the freedom to choose precisely which capacity will suit their needs. Technology has also developed at such a rate as to enable dual capabilities, meaning users have the option to run in an IoT mode network sharing capacity with all their other IoT terminals and switch to a dedicated channel SCPC mode for a short period when greater throughput and less latency are needed.

Safety being the main priority, on-the-ground teams can also switch to a dedicated channel if required and make important calls using a mobile IP app over the satellite. The flexibility of this dedicated channel SCPC mode is key because customers like the idea of being able to log into systems when they need to. Otherwise, they end up paying a premium for their terminal and airtime even if they’re only using the broadband capability for 1 percent of the time.

Crucially, it also allows them to prioritize mission-critical data by managing it on a terminal-by-terminal basis, helping them achieve a higher level of accuracy and due diligence before making a decision.