First Satellite IoT Patent Granted to OQ Technology
OQ Technology has been granted its first satellite IoT patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office. It is the first of the company’s six patent applications in the US and the EU.
"In addition to the patent for ‘wake-up’, we have five more patents in the queue to be approved both in the USA and Europe which we expect to take place this year."
Omar Qaise, founder and CEO of OQ Technology.
The first satellite IoT patent is for the company's ‘Wake-up’ technology, a smart power-saving technology within OQ’s terminal IoT devices that allows them to efficiently wake up and communicate with the base station (satellite) only when needed. The function can be adjusted in line with the growth of the number of satellites, with each satellite being able to connect with thousands of sensors. Through ‘wake-up’ OQ aims to achieve the 10-year battery-life goal set by 3GPP standards for narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) wireless communications.
OQ’s other patent applications include frequency synchronization, timing synchronization, IoT device localisation, inter-satellite link technology, and a satellite system design and network architecture for cellular IoT communication between satellites and ground stations. The ‘wake-up’ technology and the technologies still pending patents are all to be implemented onboard OQ’s satellite constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO).
“I’m very grateful to the US Patent and Trademark Office to grant OQ Technology this patent. This and the pending patents will give us an edge over competitors and security to our intellectual property," said Omar Qaise, founder and CEO of OQ Technology. "In addition to the patent for ‘wake-up’, we have five more patents in the queue to be approved both in the USA and Europe which we expect to take place this year. With these patents and our frequency licenses and chip partnerships we are the pioneer company who is well positioned to provide 3GPP compatible satellite NB-IoT over non-terrestrial networks.
“OQ Technology is the only company in the world that uses standardized 3GPP cellular technology for NB-IoT to connect devices to satellites. We have been leading the way for satellite-based 5G communications since we created the world’s first universal plug and play IoT device that can provide connectivity using LEO satellite infrastructure. Testing its orbit using our Tiger-1 mission in 2019 was another. This is yet another important milestone for us.”
The remaining five technologies pending patents are: - “Terminal device localisation”, which allows the spacecraft to locate a terminal device, using stored data from the base station(s) instead of an expensive global positioning system. - “Inter-satellite links”, keeping the different base stations aware of each other and also record keeping of terminal devices being connectable to the different base stations. This will make hand-over between base stations easier. In the future this will also include GEO satellites. - “Frequency synchronization” and “Timing synchronization” – they synchronize communication and thus improve the signaling between terminal devices and base stations to overcome Doppler effect (wavelength change from traveling objects) issues and timing misalignment issues. This improves the quality of data transmissions and data rate capacity, and also saves energy. - A satellite system design and network architecture for cellular IoT communication between space and earth stations.
The company has also developed a technology that allows it to use the cheaper standard mobile chips ($5) for its satellite connectivity, instead of the expensive satellite chip ($100) that would have to be installed and used when leaving terrestrial networks.
(Image provided with OQ Technology news release)