| Remote sensing Ground Control
Ground Control began life as three companies - Ground Control, Rock Seven and Wireless Innovations - all focused on satellite service delivery for different market segments. The companies merged in 2021 and refocused on IoT and tracking applications. Today, as part of the CLS Group, Ground Control designs and builds satellite and cellular hardware, supported by Cloudloop, our IoT software platform for subscription, data and device management. One of the founding companies, Wireless Innovations, provided consultancy and implementation services to water utilities needing to connect remote assets, and the utility sector remains the largest market into which Ground Control provides its services.
For more details see
www.groundcontrol.com or contact
liz.wilson@groundcontrol.com.
on exception - i.e. wake up to transmit when data fell outside of normal parameters, then go back to sleep when water levels subsided - in order to preserve battery life.
For this, the Ground Control team chose the RockBLOCK RTU, a micro-data logger built for remote sensor capture in harsh, off-grid environments. It sips as little as 380mW at hourly reporting intervals, and can store and bundle sensor readings locally, transmitting only when values breach pre-set thresholds. This maximises battery life and keeps airtime costs down. The service selected was Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD), a packet-based protocol that has much less overhead than an IP-based transmission (such as used by the Hughes 9502 terminal); again, this means reduced power consumption as only the active payload is sent. Iridium has pole to pole coverage; as long as you have a clear view of the sky, you can send your data.
Renewed momentum for Satellite IoT Arguably once seen as a last resort, satellite
connectivity is enjoying a renaissance, chiefly thanks to the introduction of cellular standards into the satellite ecosystem. The promise is that you can use a single chipset for NB-IoT or LTE Cat-1, and move
between cellular and satellite networks seamlessly, lowering the cost of hardware and removing vendor lock-in.
In practice, satellite communication has more constraints than cellular communication; it costs more, you can send less, and it takes longer. But the gaps are narrowing, and while these ‘NTN’ services are in their infancy, they have prompted renewed interest in satellite IoT. While the tried and trusted satellite network operators are in the process of launching NTN services, they’re also launching new proprietary services at more competitive price points, such as Iridium Messaging Transport and Viasat IoT Nano. This is important because no single satellite IoT service fits all. The new NTN services are designed for very small data volumes and latency-tolerant applications; they’re not designed for high data volumes or frequent transmissions, which are best left to the proprietary services. Remote sensing for hydropower and dam safety is
ultimately a systems problem in unforgiving places. The technologies are maturing, costs are falling, and options are proliferating, but the fundamentals endure: respect the physics, minimise the payload, and choose the simplest bearer that meets the risk. When teams centre those principles, the result is dependable data at the right time, without over-engineering.
Above: With no cellular network in the protected area of Snowdonia in Wales, Ground Control had to work closely with RWE and other partners to integrate satellite connectivity into hydrological stations
Below: Remote monitoring can be problematic during the long harsh winter months in Canada
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