TAMPA, Fla. — Europe has given Luxembourg’s OQ Technology a contract to study ways to connect unmodified smartphones from its low Earth orbit constellation, which currently provides narrowband connectivity for remote Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Luxembourg’s government is providing an undisclosed amount of funding for the six-month feasibility contract, OQ Technology CEO Omar Qaise said Feb. 7. Such contracts are typically below $1 million in value.
The project officially kicked off Jan. 24 and will study upgrades the company’s payload and software would need to reach phones already out in the market.
“We should lay down the plan for a following in-orbit demonstration mission,” Qaise told SpaceNews via email.
The eight 6U cubesats OQ Technology already has in low Earth orbit — plus another two slated to launch on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission in March — can connect directly to off-the-shelf IoT devices and machines for tracking and monitoring services.
However, reaching standard smartphones requires more satellite power, in addition to managing the Doppler effect, which becomes more of an issue for services moving beyond messages to include images and voice.
Existing OQ Technology satellites can use all the standard narrowband spectrum bands assigned to space-based networks, according to Qaise, and one of the areas up for study is the use of radio frequencies from a terrestrial mobile network operator partner.
Using spectrum from terrestrial partners is key to plans underway by SpaceX, Lynk Global, and AST SpaceMobile to provide direct-to-smartphone services.
Depending on the outcome of the feasibility study and OQ Technology’s ability to raise funds for the upgrades, Qaise said he anticipates deploying a satellite or a hosted payload with a direct-to-smartphone capability within two years.
“We also want to observe the other players and validate the market and technology approaches,” he added.
He…
Read the full article here