SBIR Phase I: An Innovative and Open Satellite-Based Internet of Things (IoT) Network

小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是为物联网（IoT）连接设备创建低成本卫星网络。 拟议的全球通信网络的费用比现有备选方案低几个数量级，并覆盖地球上的任何地点。 科学、航运、跟踪、汽车、农业、能源、医疗、教育和其他商业实体将有能力从地球上的任何地方返回他们的数据，以支持跟踪、安全操作以及最佳和及时的决策。 由于其前所未有的能力和成本，这一创新网络也有望实现新的细分市场。采用极小型卫星群联网设计的进一步影响包括使空间更容易进入，并促进将较小的航天器资源用于更复杂的飞行任务。这使得能够开发新的产品和服务，用于数据收集和科学，社会或商业利益的回报。 教育和研发项目也将受益于降低进入门槛，以测试新的概念和商业模式，提供额外的专业发展机会。拟议的项目解决了现有的问题，即没有低成本的选择，用于从没有蜂窝或Wifi覆盖的远程位置感测，传输和连接设备。 像Iridium这样的现有解决方案价格昂贵，并且不被大多数需要连接的市场所利用。 Swarm Technologies开发了智能、低质量、低功耗、低成本（质量和功耗的1/10，000，成本的1/400）集成传感器和数据中继平台。 这为开发低成本的空间和地面通信网络提供了独特的机会，用于全球传感，连接和数据返回。 该研发项目的长期目标是通过创建一个开放访问的全球空间电信网络，能够中继来自地球上任何地方的任何空间或地面物联网传感器的数据，从而成为一个独特而真正的物联网推动者。本提案的研究目标是设计和测试地面BEE（地面中继节点）的运行性能，包括开发和表征网络，通信，软件，能源管理系统。 我们将利用设计、模拟技术以及在代表性环境中（例如真空室和高空气球）进行实验室和环境测试。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the creation of a low-cost satellite network for Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices.   The proposed global communications network is orders of magnitude lower cost relative to existing options, and provides coverage at any location on the Earth.   Scientific, shipping, tracking, automotive, agriculture, energy, medical, educational, and other commercial entities will have the ability to return their data from anywhere on the planet to support tracking, safe operations, and optimal and timely decision making.  This innovative network is also expected to enable new market segments due to its unprecedented capability and cost. Further impact with the introduction of very small satellite design for swarm networking includes making space more accessible and promotes the use of smaller spacecraft resources for more complex missions. This enables the development of new products and services for data collection and return for scientific, societal, or commercial benefit.  Educational and research and development projects will also benefit with reduced barriers of entry to test new concepts and business models, making additional professional development opportunities available.The proposed project addresses the problem that there are no existing low-cost options for sensing, transmitting, and connecting devices from remote locations with no cell or Wifi coverage.  Existing solutions like Iridium are expensive and not utilized by the majority of markets requiring connectivity.  Swarm Technologies has developed smart, low-mass, low-power, low-cost (1/10,000 the mass and power, and 1/400th the cost) integrated sensor and data relay platforms.  This creates the unique opportunity to develop low-cost space and ground based communication networks for global sensing, connectivity, and data return.  The long-term goal of this R&D project is to become a unique and true IoT enabler by creating an open access global space telecommunications network capable of relaying data from any space or ground IoT sensor anywhere on the planet. The research objectives of this proposal are to design and test the operational performance of the ground BEEs (the ground-relay nodes), including developing and characterizing the networking, communication, software, energy management systems.  We will utilize design, simulation techniques, and lab and environmental testing in representative environments (e.g. vacuum chamber and high altitude balloons).