Innovative Satellite Antennas for Emerging M2M/IoT applications

卫星技术是支持新兴的机器对机器(M2M)通信以及物联网(IoT)应用的关键推动因素。最近的调查估计，2016至2021年间，全球无线流量将增长七倍。物联网和M2M设备是增长最快的类别，预计到2020年将有200-300亿个连接节点。由于其固有成本，使用地面回程基础设施为如此大量的设备提供全球连接将是非常具有挑战性的。基于卫星的网络提供了一种经济高效且可扩展的替代方案，可提供非常适合物联网和M2M需求的全球无线服务。然而，M2M/IoT卫星的尺寸越来越小，再加上它们的非地球静止轨道，以及最近向更高(毫米波)工作频率的迁移，给地面和空间段天线的设计带来了重大挑战。M2M/IoT应用需要地面上的低功率、低成本、波束可控的网关终端，以及卫星上可部署的高增益多频天线。该项目将通过在这两个领域开发创新的天线解决方案以及能够快速设计这类天线的尖端数值分析技术来满足这些需求。这些解决方案基于我们团队成员首创的电磁表面、可重新配置天线和计算效率技术方面的进步。我们将与航空航天、交通和国防解决方案的全球领先者泰利斯公司合作，创造广泛采用卫星支持的M2M/IoT系统所急需的天线技术。反过来，这将在远程远程信息处理、互联交通系统、智能农业、智能航运、远程监控和其他对加拿大等城市中心以外地面网络基础设施稀疏的大国非常重要的领域开辟许多令人兴奋的应用。

Satellite technology is a key enabler for supporting emerging machine-to-machine (M2M) communication as well as Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Recent surveys estimate that worldwide wireless traffic will increase sevenfold between 2016 and 2021. IoT and M2M devices are the fastest growing category with 20-30 billion connected nodes expected by 2020. Providing global connectivity to such a large number of devices will be very challenging with terrestrial backhaul infrastructure due to its intrinsic costs. Satellite-based networks offer a cost-effective and scalable alternative, providing global wireless service ideally-suited to IoT and M2M needs. Nevertheless, the decreasing size of M2M/IoT satellites combined with their non-geostationary orbits and recent migration to higher (mm-wave) operating frequencies imposes major challenges on the design of both ground and space segment antennas. M2M/IoT applications require low-power, low-cost, beam-steerable gateway terminals on the ground, and deployable, high-gain multi-frequency antennas on board satellites. This project will address these requirements by developing innovative antenna solutions in both segments, as well as cutting-edge numerical analysis techniques enabling the rapid design of such antennas. These solutions are based on exploiting advances in electromagnetic surfaces, reconfigurable antennas, and computationally efficient techniques pioneered by members of our team. In conjunction with Thales, a global leader in aerospace, transportation and defence solutions, we will create antenna technologies urgently needed to achieve the widespread adoption of satellite-enabled M2M/IoT systems. In turn, this will open up many exciting applications in remote telematics, connected transportation systems, smart agriculture, intelligent shipping, remote monitoring and others important for large countries with sparse terrestrial network infrastructure outside of urban centres, such as Canada.