Maker of ubiquitous network that connects any machine or sensor, Skylo today announced a partnership with Sony Semiconductor Israel (Sony, formerly known as Altair Semiconductor). With the partnership, Skylo and Sony will be the first to develop and deploy cellular IoT chipsets (branded “Altair”) that can connect via geostationary satellites and that leverage the standardized, 5G-ready, NB-IoT protocol.
According to a press release by Skylo, the partnership also makes “significant contributions” to 3GPP future specifications, which will help standardize and accelerate the adoption of NB-IoT over satellite. In addition, this innovative new use of Sony’s Altair cellular IoT chipsets significantly reduces the cost for IoT applications to connect via traditional satellite networks; until the launch of this solution, satellite connectivity was cost-prohibitive and required custom-built protocols, claimed Skylo.
Skylo was founded in late 2017 by researchers, including Dr. Andrew Kalman. It is building a global NB-IoT network over satellite for millions of presently unconnected devices, machines, and sensors. Sony Semiconductor Israel, on the other hand, is a leading provider of cellular IoT chipsets.
Image credit: Skylo