Monitoring Supply Chains From Space
Companies desiring greater visibility into their supply chains now have another option for tracking their goods. By using IoT sensors that communicate with low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, they can gain new insights into where their products are and the conditions under which they are traveling.
IoT sensors attached to shipping containers, embedded into products or built into trucks can provide a great deal of information about the journey of goods from source to seller to end user. They can relay a shipment’s location, the temperature the shipping container has maintained throughout the journey and the condition of the truck that is transporting it. IoT sensors transfer the data they collect to the internet via wireless communications protocols like Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and, for longer distances, cellular networks.
But cellular services are not always available. According to Iridium Satellite Communications, cellular networks only cover about 15% of the world. There are no cell phone towers on the ocean, and many remote locations throughout the globe are without cellular signals. In some areas, topographical features like mountains and large lakes limit cellular coverage…
