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Low-cost sensors, low-power processors, scalable cloud computing, and ubiquitous wireless connectivity have enabled an “Internet of Things” revolution. And, at the forefront of the charge is Libelium. Founded in 2006 by college mates, Alicia Asín and David Gascón, Libelium delivers open-source, low-power consumption devices that are easy to program and implement for Smart City solutions, and a wide range of M2M and sensor projects. But, Libelium’s latest partnership with Nanosatisfi promises to take the Internet of Things to the next frontier, outer space.

Libelium Teams with Nanosatisfi to Launch the “Internet of Things” Into Outer Space

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An Open-Source Marriage

With the successful launch of ArduSat-I and ArduSat-X last August, the marriage between US-based Nanosatisfi and Spain-based Libelium was pronounced. Both ArduSats, developed by Nanosatisfi, were funded in part by a Kickstarter crowd-funding effort that raised more than $100,000. The additional $1 million plus necessary to get the satellites off the ground came from venture-capital backers. Each Arduino-based Nanosatellite complies with CubeSat standards and comes equipped with Arduino boards and sensors along with Libelium’s radiation technology. “The main idea with this satellite is that people—researchers, developers—can upload their own programs to this satellite in real time from the earth. This company is trying to make people get access to space easily,” David Gascón, Co-Founder of Libelium, told EEWeb. Libelium’s previous work with radiation technology made them especially suited for the development of the radiation sensors currently on board the ArduSats. “I thought that they were integrating a bunch of different sensors,” Gascón told us, “but they were not integrating geiger sensors that measure radiation. This is when I thought that Libelium could improve this project by adding the know-how about how to measure radiation because we have, in the past, developed radiation sensor boards for the Fukishima radiation meltdown after the Tsunami.” Both Libelium and Nanosatisfi are well established in the open-source community and their united vision to empower the world with innovative technologies propelled their relationship. “When I saw that we could add our technology in these satellites, I didn’t

think about it twice, I just said ‘yes.’ We wanted to integrate our sensors in this satellite. I was talking to the guys at Nanosatisfi and we were trying to come up with possible applications for this technology. I thought we could measure solar storms, background radiation into space—all sorts of different experiments. It was a very open collaboration between open source companies,” explained Gascón.

Adapting to Outer Space

Libelium’s radiation sensors were originally developed to measure radioactivity levels on Earth and c o n s i d e r a b l e

adaptations were necessary

to meet the ArduSat’s restrictions

especially in terms of weight and size. “In the beginning, our

sensor board was not as small and lightweight as it is now because we had developed our radiation sensor board to work on top of Waspmote, which is our sensor platform, or on top of platforms like Arduino or Raspberry Pi. It was around the size of a credit card. When we started talking with Nanosatisfi, they told us that we had to make it really small. When they said ‘small,’ they meant 3 to 4 centimeters. So it’s tiny—like a really small cube. The whole satellite

is just 10 by 10 centimeters—so it has to be really small and really lightweight. Even the radiation sensor weighs only 40 grams. Most of the research here was like trying to miniaturize the technology,” Gascón told us. Aside from downsizing the board, preparing Libelium’s technology for space travel also required alterations to the Geiger tubes, the sensor, and the power control mechanism, “We had to change the Geiger tubes because in our normal sensor board, we [had] a glass tube. These Geiger tubes are metallic. That was the first change we made. The second was the size of the sensor. The other thing we had to add to our board was a special unit to control the power. The sensors can’t be powered the whole time, so the satellite has to decide to turn it on to measure and when to turn it off. The energy control part was really important in the satellite because it is not powered by solar energy the whole time, because it is going around earth and it just gets energy part of the day. You have to control the amount of current that is drawn from the battery,” explained David. Although Libelium’s reengineered radiation sensor board is tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the applications are vast. Orbiting at an altitude of 300 km, the radio-controlled satellite technology can be used explore a wide range of phenomena from sun storms to radiation emitted from earth. Everyday the sun is spewing solar storms, which sends a lot of gamma radiation towards the earth. It’s important to not only measure the radiation that reaches certain places in the world, but the original radiation that is going through space. Afterwards it’s important to study how these particles are distributed on the earth. “With these sensors,” Gascón said, “we’ll be able to know the final amount of radiation that reaches the

Ardusat Satellite

Geiger Counter Radiation Sensors (Libelium)

"Libelium’s reengineered radiation sensor board is tiny

enough to fit in the palm of your hand."

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final frontier. With satellite technology at the fingertips of the world, how our understanding of the universe will evolve and how this technology will affect our lives three decades from now is at the whims of our imagination.

earth, but also the gamma radiation that is currently going through space on the way to the earth. It’s also interesting that radiation is not only produced in space. On earth, radiation is also being produced in certain kinds of electric storms with lightning and other phenomena. Gamma radiation is also produced there and sent into space.”

The Future of ArduSat

Open source satellite technology is in its infancy and its utility to the scientific community is yet to be determined. But Gascón and many others are confident, “If this project is a success, and I’m sure it will be, there will be more satellites like this going up into space. Of course, Libelium will be offering our sensors for that satellite because now we have the know-how for the sensor integration on the satellite.” The burgeoning enthusiasm behind this new technology, combined with the efforts of open-source companies like Libelium and Nanosatisfi, promises to catapult a new era of space exploration and Internet of Things applications. “Maybe in ten years, everything will be accessible and open source, but small steps like this are the first of these steps. I think companies like Libelium and Nanosatisfi are making the difference now so that companies that come about in the upcoming years have an easy way to build their applications and products,” expressed Gascón. With Ardusat, access to satellite technology is no longer limited to governments and a few wealthy corporations, it is now possible for everyone to take part in what has been said to be the