Integration of IoT and Satellite Networks in Emerging 5G Systems

The advent of 5G communications represents a potentially disruptive element in the Internet of Things (IoT) takeoff. The increased data rate, reduced end-to-end latency, and improved coverage with respect to 4G hold the potential to cater for even the most demanding of IoT applications in terms of communication requirements. In addition, by integrating heterogeneous networks, 5G will play a major role in unifying the interconnection framework, facilitating a seamless connectivity of “things” with the Internet. In this vein, one of the main application scenario that the upcoming 5G systems are expected to support is the connectivity of an huge number of IoT devices. Those may be deployed in remote areas, where terrestrial networks may not be available. Satellites then come into play, and they can provide the ubiquitous coverage targeted by 5G. This chapter provides an overview on the role of satellites in the IoT connectivity landscape, and the main envisaged use cases. In particular, it presents the lessons learnt from the M2MSAT project, a project funded by ESA that aimed at designing optimizations of IoT application protocols to enhance network performance when adopted in integrated IoT-satellite networks.