Start-up manages Bluetooth connection over 600 kilometres
A start-up from Seattle in the USA wants to revolutionise global networks: Bluetooth connections should be possible over long distances. A connection with a satellite over a distance of 600 kilometres is now said to have been successful.
All Bluetooth connections have one thing in common: they only work over short distances. The success that the US start-up "Hubble Network" announced a few days ago seems almost unbelievable. The team succeeded in establishing a Bluetooth connection between the Earth's surface and a satellite - over a distance of 600 kilometres.
The startup developed a patent for special satellite antennas. On 4 March 2024, Space X launched two satellites equipped with these antennas into orbit. Their task: to receive signals from a commercially available Bluetooth chip from Earth. The company announced in its blog that it had succeeded. Alex Haro, co-founder and CEO of Hubble Network, is proud of his team's achievement. The use of Bluetooth via satellite opens up completely new possibilities, he says.
How is such a Bluetooth connection possible?
The strongest transmission power of Bluetooth is 100 milliwatts. This allows distances of up to 200 metres to be covered in clear visibility. In order to reach 600 kilometres and more, some "technical tricks" were necessary, as the magazine TechCrunch quotes Haro as saying.
Initially, the company worked on improving the software of normal Bluetooth chips. The aim was to use less energy for the longest possible connections. The transmission rate was also reduced for this purpose.
According to the TechCrunch report, each satellite has hundreds of small antennas that together act like a magnifying glass. This allows them to detect their Bluetooth counterpart on the earth's surface. To do this, the company had to overcome problems with frequency discrepancies with fast-moving objects.
Bluetooth should be available everywhere
Hubble Network was founded in 2021 with the aim of providing a global satellite network for terrestrial Bluetooth connections. 300 satellites will receive and transmit real-time information from Bluetooth devices equipped with a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) chip.
According to Hubble Network, the background to this project is that global networks are not yet seamlessly available. In rural environments, on remote agricultural land and on the oceans, there is still a lack of reliable connectivity for Internet of Things devices.
The problem is familiar from tracker chips. You can fit your wallet with a Bluetooth chip to locate it with your smartphone if you lose it. However, this only works if the chip can establish a connection to your or other devices. If you lose your wallet in a remote wooded area, the chip is useless.
According to Hubble Network, satellite Bluetooth could help in such a case. On the website, the company also mentions possible applications such as monitoring livestock on extensive pastures. Wildfires could be detected more quickly, shipping containers could be tracked more easily and sensor values on environmental conditions could be transmitted more effectively.
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