Global satellite operators continue to recognise Lacuna Space as the leading technology provider for direct-to-device (D2D) satellite IoT. Lacuna’s technology balances massive scalability with low-cost service and benefits from a huge ecosystem of LoRaWAN solutions providers able to convert existing terrestrial devices to become D2D satellite IoT devices.
Saturday 20th May 2023, another Lacuna IoT payload was launched to orbit on the SpaceX Iridium/OneWeb Mission from Vandenberg, this time hosted aboard a OneWeb technology demonstrator satellite, nicknamed Joey-Sat because it hops its antenna beam between locations on the ground.
Joey-Sat represents an important new capability for OneWeb, with its beam hopping technology able to rapidly switch capacity between different places on Earth, enabling it to respond in real time to surges in commercial demand, such providing broadband on planes, and responding to emergencies and natural disasters.
The new Joey satellite is a testbed for OneWeb’s next generation technologies as they scale up their existing constellation of 600 GEN1 satellites by adding a planned 1280 GEN2 satellites in the coming years.
Similarly, last year Lacuna also entered into a formal partnership with Omnispace to fulfil their objective of offering D2D IoT service in licensed bands. In the Omnispace scenario, instead of Lacuna payloads flying on LEO satellites in a “store-and-forward” architecture as with Joey-Sat, the Omnispace system utilises Lacuna payloads installed in Omnispace’s ground station infrastructure. This “bent-pipe” MEO implementation offers the benefit of real-time bidirectional connections to Lacuna IoT devices with a global footprint, and without the need to launch new payloads to orbit on additional satellites.
Beyond these recent examples, Lacuna is also working with a number of other satellite operators on their D2D IoT roadmaps. Bringing these numerous constellations together under the umbrella of a single Lacuna IoT service represents a win-win for Lacuna partners and customers alike.