Low cost remote water tank monitoring using satellites to directly access sensor data

Project title: Low cost remote water tank monitoring using satellites to directly access sensor data

Funding Body: Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information and Meat Livestock Australia under the Australian Livestock Spatial Innovation Program (ALSIP)

Overview of Project and Proposed Outcomes:

Myriota Global (MG) is a nano-satellite, internet of things (IoT) connectivity solutions developer. MG has developed an ultra-low cost remote Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity platform. The platform consists of small, inexpensive, battery powered modules that transmit small amounts of data from remote locations via Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, precluding the need for any on-ground telecommunications infrastructure on farm.

This project involves Myriota and UNE deploying 8 satellite transmitter modules around Australia at 4 locations including the UNE SMART Farm. In this trial the transmitters are connected to water tank level sensors. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of a new communication technology to transmit water tank level data from remote areas, and act as a self-contained tracking device. The data transmissions will be overlaid with synthetised transmissions from an additional 100,000 devices, all competing for the available bandwidth.

Since the commencement of the trial, Myriota Global have closed a US$15 million Series A funding round led by Australian VC firms Main Sequence Ventures and Blue Sky Venture Capital and included Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and Right Click Capital. It is globally the largest round announced to date for a tech startup using Space 2.0 for IoT. It is also the first investment outside the United States for Boeing HorizonX Ventures.