Extending the internet of things (IoT) networks to remote areas under extreme conditions or for serving sometimes unpredictable mobile applications has increased the need for satellite technology to provide effective connectivity. However, existent medium access control (MAC) protocols deployed in commercial satellite networks were not designed to offer scalable solutions for the increasing number of devices predicted for IoT in the near future, nor do they consider other specific IoT characteristics. In particular, CubeSats—a low-cost solution for space technology—have the potential to become a wireless access network for the IoT, if additional requirements, including simplicity and low demands in processing, storage, and energy consumption are incorporated into MAC protocol design for satellite IoT systems. Here we review MAC protocols employed or proposed for satellite systems and evaluate their performance considering the IoT scenario along with the trend of using CubeSats for IoT connectivity. Criteria include channel load, throughput, energy efficiency, and complexity. We have found that Aloha-based protocols and interference cancellation-based protocols stand out on some of the performance metrics. However, the tradeoffs among communications performance, energy consumption, and complexity require improvements in future designs, for which we identify specific challenges and open research areas for MAC protocols deployed with next low-cost nanosatellite IoT systems.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling unprecedented applications based on the transport of small data volumes to and from constrained devices. When end devices or sensor nodes are located in very remote zones with inaccessible topography, Direct-to-Satellite IoT (DtS-IoT) has been proposed as an appealing solution. In DtS-IoT, isolated sensor nodes can directly relay data to and from inexpensive nanosatellites (i.e., CubeSats). However, because both sensor nodes and CubeSats operate on very limited energy supply and storage, the efficient management of power-hungry communication sub-systems is essential. Thus, specific Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols are needed to ensure the minimal overhead while considering DtS-IoT scalability and channel dynamics. In this work, we contribute with REserve-and-Send Sift-IoT (RESS-IoT), a scalable and energy-efficient DtS-IoT MAC protocol, combining the LoRa physical layer with a novel link scheduling approach. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our solution provides up to four times the energy savings in the satellite and up to seven times the energy savings at the sensor node on the ground with respect to state-of-the-art IoT protocols.

Laser diodes are widely used in research and industrial applications in areas such as measurements, communications and health. In most of these applications, stability in the emitted light power is required. This can be realized by modifying the internal parameters, such as the current supply, by using an analog automatic power control (APC). This research presents the design and analysis of a feedback laser driver (digital APC system) based on a proportionall–integral (PI) controller. The controller’s theoretical design acting on the supply current in a laser was obtained by algebraically solving the general equations of a PI controller over a laser described as a steady-state system. The required steady-state model can be determined from the lightl–current curve obtained either from the laser data sheet or experimentally. A posterior numerical analysis shows that the proportional gain of the PI controller is only limited numerically by the reciprocal of the slope efficiency of the laser when the characteristic time of the system is greater than the sampling period. Finally, the APC model was tested in an experimental setting using a laser diode ADL-65052TL at several temperatures. The results show that the proposed relations for the proportional gain and the integral time are valid, achieving the desired power stability with a drift of less than $0.1\%$.