The
new space race focuses on satellite Internet with a promise of higher speed and
lower latency for industrial and business-oriented communication applications. As
the connectivity revolution gathers momentum, low earth orbit satellites (LEOs)
penetrate innovative application areas due to superior performance and
positioning compared to geostationary and middle earth orbit satellites in remote
tracking, climate monitoring, and inter-vehicular networking, according to
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s
FutureTech Series report, ‘Internet from Sky: Can LEO Satellites
Transform the Future of Connectivity?’, reveals the futuristic latency-critical
applications of LEOs as the technology widens its global footprint.
Kiran Raj, Principal Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData,
comments:
“Venture
capital (VC) deals in the LEO space witnessed a massive rise in 2021 with
nearly 650% year-on-year growth. An unprecedented level of this funding is
flowing into the space economy, beyond satellite communications, into ventures
to drive creative concepts and versatile use-cases.”
Sanchari Chatterjee, Senior Disruptive Tech Analyst at
GlobalData, notes:
“Post COVID-19 pandemic, LEOs could be potentially critical to offer lightning
speed broadband services, tracking of assets, securitizing data, and
strengthening the network infrastructure to provide communication resilience in
digital oilfields, satellite farming, and connected vehicles.”
Digital
oilfields:
LEO
technology can offer ubiquitous connectivity to remote onshore and offshore oil
fields enabling oil and gas companies to enhance their digital capabilities,
machine learning, and security initiatives at remote facilities. Australian IT
service provider Speedcast conducted an oil and gas industry performance
testing of Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite using data provided by a Brazilian
petroleum company Petrobras.
Satellite
farming:
Spectral
imaging offered by LEOs can assist farmers to record land productivity and soil
health to improve their decision-making for crop cultivation and product
marketing. Farmers can also track the climate, soil conditions, and growth
parameters of crops using data from LEOs. US-based agro giant John Deere is investigating
the potential of LEOs in agriculture to assist farmers in rural areas with
high-speed broadband connectivity.
Connected
vehicles:
LEO
satellites promise fast-paced networking to support automotive emergency
response situations, content software distribution to cars, inter-vehicle
connectivity, and a host of compelling features in armored luxury vehicles, missiles,
mining vehicles, agricultural unmanned vehicles, and autonomous vehicles. Chinese
automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding plans to investigate a network of LEOs to navigate
its fleet of cloud-connected cars.
Chatterjee concludes: “Apart from the investment scenario, the
surge in IP activities in the last few years also contribute to more in-space tracking,
monitoring, navigational, and even manufacturing initiatives to set the stage
for a wider deployment of LEOs infrastructure across various industries.”