The Internet of Space Things/CubeSats

The Internet of Things for terrestrial deployments is a major part of next-generation 5G wireless systems. However, there are many use cases such as monitoring of remote areas, Internet provisioning to under-served or disrupted regions, or intelligent global transport management, which require a more global, scalable, flexible, and resilient solution. In this article, the Internet of Space Things, a ubiquitous cyber-physical system for realizing true global connectivity, is introduced. Within this context, this article discusses the state-of-the-art in satellite-based data networks and presents a novel network architecture where Software-defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization serve as key enabling technologies. Further, the major challenges in terms of network design, routing, and resource allocation are also presented. To this end, the Internet of Space Things is the ultimate cyber-physical system, with much broader application and service domains than the traditional Internet of Things.

Introduction

Due to its ubiquitous nature, capacity to function at any time and location, and application-oriented operation that can provide connectivity between a myriad of physical points, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been recognized as a key driver of 5G wireless communications. It is anticipated that 50 billion devices will be connected by the year 2020, which poses many challenges for the practical realization of IoT. Currently, connectivity for IoT solutions is realized through a patchwork of different terrestrial networks, including but not limited to wireless personal area networks and low-power wide area networks. Consequently, there exist areas such as remote forests and deserts that are still difficult to provide coverage to, owing to the low financial incentive as well as challenging terrain. To this end, the concept of the Internet of Space (IoS) that makes use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites as a possible solution, has been proposed.