Elon Musk<\/a> is in the process of putting up tens of thousands of large-ish satellites meant to deliver high-speed internet access to every person on Earth. Swarm Technologies<\/a> Inc. wants to do something similar, only different. The four-year-old startup has put up a constellation of tiny satellites that deliver internet access in drips and drabs to all types of devices.
To date, Swarm has placed 21 of its paperback-sized satellites into orbit. Nine of these devices were experimental units to prove that the technology worked, while 12 of them were production models launched this month from a spaceport in French Guiana. With the fleet now up and running, Swarm has revealed the prices for its data service for the first time.
Customers will pay $5 per month to send 150 kilobytes of data—equal to about 750 text messages—and a onetime $119 fee for the satellite modem that links devices to the satellites. “We joke that it’s like the internet of 1996, like dial-up modem speeds,” says Ben Longmier, the co-founder and chief technology officer of Swarm. “For most of our customers that is totally fine. They want to send the equivalent of a couple of text messages several times a day.”
Unlike Musk’s lofty goals with his Starlink satellite service—to supply high-speed internet to the more than 3 billion people that cannot be reached by fiber optic cables today, and a fast network to things like planes, cars and boats—Swarm wants to create a dirt-cheap digital heartbeat surrounding the globe. Its service is not meant for streaming movies but rather to allow things like moisture sensors on a farm to report their readings or a shipping container to record its temperature. Such a service could be a backbone to making the so-called Internet of Things work well.
To pull this off in a cost-effective fashion, Swarm has built satellites that weigh just 14 ounces each. The startup plans to put up 150 of them by the middle of 2021. It has purchased rides on rockets from Space Exploration Technologies Corp<\/a>. and Rocket Lab USA Inc.<\/a>, among others, to plop the devices in orbit in a type of interlinked web that surrounds Earth. So far, Swarm has raised $35 million from investors, including Craft Ventures<\/a> and Social Capital<\/a>.
Evan Thomas, the CEO of SweetSense—a startup that builds devices to monitor water and energy in remote places—has been testing the Swarm network on a series of sensors placed inside water pumps throughout East Africa and California. The pumps are in remote areas that lack consistent access even to cellular networks, and the job of the sensors is to report back on how much water the pumps are supplying and whether or not they’re working correctly.
In Africa, the pumps provide the daily water supply to more than three million people in countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, making their smooth operations essential. SweetSense currently uses the Iridium satellite network for its data services. “Iridium is meant for cruising the internet and making phone calls, and we don’t need that much bandwidth,” Thomas says. “We are spending about $100,000 per year for data and expect Swarm will be about a tenth of that.”
Out in New Zealand, a company called Hivemind uses Swarm to check on the weight of beehives placed in remote locations to know when they’re ready to harvest instead of sending out a human in a helicopter to do the work. Meanwhile, Sofar Ocean Technologies<\/a> will use Swarm to gather data from thousands of floating weather sensors in the Pacific Ocean.
“Specific to the ocean, this is a game changer,” says Tim Janssen, the co-founder and CEO of SoFar. “Distributed sensing has massively accelerated sensing on land and in space, but not yet in the ocean.” The goal for SoFar is to gather more detailed information about the health of the oceans, while also building out super accurate weather forecasts that can be used by shipping companies and others to travel more efficient routes.
Swarm has spent the past several months setting up ground stations all over the globe, including in Antarctica, which help relay signals and information from its satellites. The company has also been refining the design of its satellites, which it makes at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, to improve their ability to send and receive data.
Swarm already has the all-clear to operate its service in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and throughout Europe, and is in the process of expanding to other countries. “There are some places that are like, ‘Sure, do whatever you want,’” says Sara Spangelo, the co-founder and CEO of Swarm. “Other countries are quite involved. We are aiming to bring connections to everyone.”
<\/body>","next_sibling":[{"msid":78418926,"title":"Vodafone Idea AGM: Shareholders question telco\u2019s IPL and rebranding spends","entity_type":"ARTICLE","link":"\/news\/vodafone-idea-agm-shareholders-question-telcos-ipl-and-rebranding-spends\/78418926","category_name":null,"category_name_seo":"telecomnews"}],"related_content":[{"msid":"78398174","title":"swarm-tech","entity_type":"IMAGES","seopath":"small-biz\/startups\/newsbuzz\/swarm-reveals-pricing-for-its-satellite-data-network\/swarm-tech","category_name":"Swarm reveals pricing for its satellite data network","synopsis":"Swarm has spent the past several months setting up ground stations all over the globe, including in Antarctica, which help relay signals and information from its satellites. (Pic: Swarm Technologies)","thumb":"https:\/\/etimg.etb2bimg.com\/thumb\/img-size-115311\/78398174.cms?width=150&height=112","link":"\/image\/small-biz\/startups\/newsbuzz\/swarm-reveals-pricing-for-its-satellite-data-network\/swarm-tech\/78398174"}],"msid":78418937,"entity_type":"ARTICLE","title":"Swarm reveals pricing for its satellite data network","synopsis":"To pull this off in a cost-effective fashion, Swarm has built satellites that weigh just 14 ounces each. The startup plans to put up 150 of them by the middle of 2021.","titleseo":"telecomnews\/swarm-reveals-pricing-for-its-satellite-data-network","status":"ACTIVE","authors":[],"analytics":{"comments":0,"views":182,"shares":0,"engagementtimems":881000},"Alttitle":{"minfo":""},"artag":"Bloomberg","artdate":"2020-10-01 08:42:39","lastupd":"2020-10-01 08:44:07","breadcrumbTags":["swarm technologies","elon musk","craft ventures","Space Exploration Technologies Corp","social capital","rocket lab usa inc.","sofar ocean technologies","Industry"],"secinfo":{"seolocation":"telecomnews\/swarm-reveals-pricing-for-its-satellite-data-network"}}" data-authors="[" "]" data-category-name="" data-category_id="" data-date="2020-10-01" data-index="article_1">
读到
由阿什莉·万斯
Elon Musk正在把成千上万的large-ish卫星旨在提供高速互联网接入地球上每一个人。群技术公司想要做类似的事情,唯一的不同。四岁的启动将微小卫星的星座提供互联网接入在滴,滴滴到所有类型的设备。
迄今为止,群已放置21的平装书大小的卫星送入轨道。9这些设备的实验单位证明技术工作,而12人生产模型推出了本月从法属圭亚那航天港。舰队现在启动并运行,群显示的价格第一次的数据服务。
客户将支付5美元每月发送150字节的data-equal约750文本电子邮件了一次性的119美元费用卫星调制解调器连接设备到卫星。“我们开玩笑说,这就像1996年的互联网,像拨号调制解调器速度,”Ben Longmier说,群的联合创始人兼首席技术官。“我们的大多数客户是完全好的。他们想要发送的短信一天几次。”
与麝香的崇高目标与我们的卫星将提供高速互联网的超过30亿人无法达到的光纤电缆今天,和一个快速网络,比如飞机、汽车和boats-Swarm想创建一个非常便宜的数码心跳周围的世界。其服务并不意味着流媒体电影而是允许诸如水分传感器报告他们阅读的一个农场或一个集装箱来记录其温度。此类服务可能是一个支柱的所谓物联网工作。
以具有成本效益的方式把这事办成,群建立了卫星,体重只有14盎司每个。启动计划将150人2021年中期。乘坐火箭从购买太空探索技术公司。和火箭实验室美国公司。等,把设备在轨道上相互关联的一种web环绕地球。到目前为止,群从投资者那里筹集了3500万美元,其中包括工艺项目和社会资本。
埃文•托马斯的首席执行官SweetSense-a启动建立设备监控在偏远地方的水和能源测试群网络在一系列的传感器安装在水泵在东非和加利福尼亚州。泵是在偏远地区,缺乏一致的访问甚至蜂窝网络,和传感器的工作报告多少水泵提供,他们是否工作正常。
在非洲,泵为超过三百万人提供日常供水在包括卢旺达的国家,肯尼亚,乌干达和埃塞俄比亚,使其光滑的业务至关重要。SweetSense目前使用铱卫星网络的数据服务。“巡航铱是互联网和打电话,我们不需要太多的带宽,”托马斯说。“我们每年花费约100000美元用于数据并期望群将十分之一的。”
在新西兰,一家名为Hivemind使用群检查蜂房放置在偏远地区的重量知道当他们准备收获而不是乘坐直升飞机发送一个人来做这个工作。与此同时,迄今为止,海洋技术将使用群收集数据从成千上万的天气传感器漂浮在太平洋。
“特定的海洋,这是一个改变游戏规则,”蒂姆·詹森说,截止到现在的联合创始人兼首席执行官。“分布式传感大大加速遥感在土地和空间,但尚未在海洋里。迄今为止,“我们的目标是收集更多详细信息海洋的健康,同时也构建超级准确的天气预报,可以通过航运公司和其他更有效的旅行路线。
群在过去的几个月里建立地面站全世界,包括在南极,它帮助继电器信号和信息从它的卫星。公司也一直在改进设计的卫星,它使得在山景城总部,加利福尼亚,提高他们的工作能力来发送和接收数据。
群已经放行操作其服务在美国、加拿大、新西兰和整个欧洲,正在扩大到其他国家。“有些地方,当然,做任何你想做的,”莎拉Spangelo说,群的联合创始人兼首席执行官。“其他国家相当。我们的目标是将连接到每一个人。”
Elon Musk正在把成千上万的large-ish卫星旨在提供高速互联网接入地球上每一个人。群技术公司想要做类似的事情,唯一的不同。四岁的启动将微小卫星的星座提供互联网接入在滴,滴滴到所有类型的设备。
迄今为止,群已放置21的平装书大小的卫星送入轨道。9这些设备的实验单位证明技术工作,而12人生产模型推出了本月从法属圭亚那航天港。舰队现在启动并运行,群显示的价格第一次的数据服务。
客户将支付5美元每月发送150字节的data-equal约750文本电子邮件了一次性的119美元费用卫星调制解调器连接设备到卫星。“我们开玩笑说,这就像1996年的互联网,像拨号调制解调器速度,”Ben Longmier说,群的联合创始人兼首席技术官。“我们的大多数客户是完全好的。他们想要发送的短信一天几次。”
与麝香的崇高目标与我们的卫星将提供高速互联网的超过30亿人无法达到的光纤电缆今天,和一个快速网络,比如飞机、汽车和boats-Swarm想创建一个非常便宜的数码心跳周围的世界。其服务并不意味着流媒体电影而是允许诸如水分传感器报告他们阅读的一个农场或一个集装箱来记录其温度。此类服务可能是一个支柱的所谓物联网工作。
以具有成本效益的方式把这事办成,群建立了卫星,体重只有14盎司每个。启动计划将150人2021年中期。乘坐火箭从购买太空探索技术公司。和火箭实验室美国公司。等,把设备在轨道上相互关联的一种web环绕地球。到目前为止,群从投资者那里筹集了3500万美元,其中包括工艺项目和社会资本。
埃文•托马斯的首席执行官SweetSense-a启动建立设备监控在偏远地方的水和能源测试群网络在一系列的传感器安装在水泵在东非和加利福尼亚州。泵是在偏远地区,缺乏一致的访问甚至蜂窝网络,和传感器的工作报告多少水泵提供,他们是否工作正常。
在非洲,泵为超过三百万人提供日常供水在包括卢旺达的国家,肯尼亚,乌干达和埃塞俄比亚,使其光滑的业务至关重要。SweetSense目前使用铱卫星网络的数据服务。“巡航铱是互联网和打电话,我们不需要太多的带宽,”托马斯说。“我们每年花费约100000美元用于数据并期望群将十分之一的。”
在新西兰,一家名为Hivemind使用群检查蜂房放置在偏远地区的重量知道当他们准备收获而不是乘坐直升飞机发送一个人来做这个工作。与此同时,迄今为止,海洋技术将使用群收集数据从成千上万的天气传感器漂浮在太平洋。
“特定的海洋,这是一个改变游戏规则,”蒂姆·詹森说,截止到现在的联合创始人兼首席执行官。“分布式传感大大加速遥感在土地和空间,但尚未在海洋里。迄今为止,“我们的目标是收集更多详细信息海洋的健康,同时也构建超级准确的天气预报,可以通过航运公司和其他更有效的旅行路线。
群在过去的几个月里建立地面站全世界,包括在南极,它帮助继电器信号和信息从它的卫星。公司也一直在改进设计的卫星,它使得在山景城总部,加利福尼亚,提高他们的工作能力来发送和接收数据。
群已经放行操作其服务在美国、加拿大、新西兰和整个欧洲,正在扩大到其他国家。“有些地方,当然,做任何你想做的,”莎拉Spangelo说,群的联合创始人兼首席执行官。“其他国家相当。我们的目标是将连接到每一个人。”
评论
现在评论 阅读评论(1)所有评论
找到这个评论进攻?
下面选择你的理由并单击submit按钮。这将提醒我们的版主采取行动