We keep talking about low orbit satellite connectivity, but what about a Sigfox device -made in New Zealand- going into space, then back to earth?
The company, the university and the students behind this project were Sensum, a small but fast moving start-up based in Tauranga, in collaboration with students from Toi-Ohomai Institute of Technology and students from Earth to Sky Calculus (the latter ran the project sponsored by Sensum and provided the real time tracking platform). Sensum supplied the SENSUM SenGeo, a Sigfox ready GPS tracker, which was attached with a camera to a weather balloon.
The weather balloon was launched from Kawhia, NZ on June 24th 2018. It reached 35km altitude with 24km recorded before GPS military restrictions jammed the signal (see red section in attached picture). It landed 230km away, in Galatea, 2h 20′ later.
See the whole video of the device going into space & back on YouTube.
The messages (GPS & altitude info) transmitted by the SenGeo device were received by up to 78 ground Sigfox basestations in New Zealand, from Whangarei (300km north of Kawhia) to one off Christchurch (800km south of Kawhia)!
This is definitely a world record in terms of altitude for a Sigfox device, and possibly another record for the number of base stations picking up the messages.
Well done Alvaro Jimenez from Sensum! As they say: Growth comes from setting your goals high and reaching for the stars.
About Thinxtra
Thinxtra is empowering the Internet of Things in Asia Pacific by operating the world-leading Sigfox LPWA network as well as enabling a full eco-system of IoT solutions and services partners to connect the non-connected, to increase productivity, to accelerate decision making, to improve quality of service and quality of life, and to find more economical solutions to common problems.
Sigfox is the world’s leading provider of connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT). The company has built a global network to connect billions of devices to the Internet while consuming as little energy as possible, as simply as possible. Sigfox’s unique approach to device-to-cloud communications addresses the three greatest barriers to global IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption, and global scalability.
PR Contact: Renald Gallis – VP Marketing +61 404 894 960 [email protected]
