Hardware Podcasts

The State of Satellite IoT | Ground Control's Alastair MacLeod | Internet of Things Podcast

IoT For All Podcast · 25 May 2023 · 20m

What this episode covers

Alastair MacLeod, CEO of Ground Control, discusses the current state of satellite IoT, distinguishing between today's viable use cases and the hype surrounding emerging LEO networks. He explains that while satellite connectivity is available for critical applications anywhere on Earth, true economic parity with terrestrial cellular for low-power, small-form-factor devices is likely 5 to 10 years away. MacLeod highlights key challenges including high unit economics, power constraints, and the complexity of hybrid satellite-cellular implementations, noting that reliability and security are major drivers for adoption. He advises engineers to focus on criticality and business cases rather than just technical feasibility, predicting market consolidation among LEO operators in the next five years.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Ground Control, Iridium, MRSATs, Swarm, OneWeb
Products
Starlink
Also
MosaicAT, LoRa

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