Sateliot, the satellite telecommunications operator that will launch the first nanosatellite constellation to democratize the IOT with 5G coverage, will provide its expertise in 5G satellite communications in a secure information exchange project for banks, security agencies and governments worldwide.
This project, called Quango, has been supported by the European Commission with EUR 2.1 million of funding and involves research centers such as ICFO in Barcelona, as well as international universities such as Malta’s University, the Sorbonne in Paris and Padova in Italy, and companies with expertise in the space sector.
Quango’s objective is to design and demonstrate in the laboratory a satellite with a double payload which will, on the one hand, enable 5G connection and, on the other, introduce an end-to-end encryption device using the QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) technique. This system will thus allow the secure exchange of information between organisms located thousands of kilometers away, the size of a microwave, which will fly at an altitude of about 600 km.
To make this possible, Sateliot will use all the expertise acquired in the design of its nanosatellite constellation for IOT with 5G and will support the integration of this technology into a device capable of generating and exchanging security keys using the laws of quantum physics. In addition, it will develop the study of its application with a European bank.
The company stresses that the secure exchange of sensitive information is of crucial importance in our society because, among other things, it protects the transfer of money, commercial transactions, medical data, remote control of critical infrastructures (electricity network, telecommunications, etc.) from all kinds of external interference.
In the future, this project could also represent an opportunity for Sateliot, as the company sees the possibility of taking advantage of its nanosatellite constellation to house both this encryption system and its IOT systems, as a way of optimizing both missions.
According to Marco Guadalupi, Sateliot’s CTO, “the European Commission’s support for this project is a very important step in the implementation and development of 5G by satellite with applications as important as this one. Furthermore, this effort in research and innovation may represent a new way of optimizing and making even more efficient the satellite missions in which we are currently working to make a global and massive IOT with 5G coverage possible”.
Sateliot is the first satellite telecommunications operator that will provide global and continuous connectivity to all the elements that make up the universe of the Internet of Things (IoT) — such as the connected car or home — under the 5G protocol. Thanks to a constellation of nanosatellites of the latest generation, located at low altitude and acting as mobile towers, Sateliot is the perfect complement to the large telecommunications companies by providing them with the necessary infrastructure where terrestrial technologies do not reach.
