Tiny cheap satellites, communicating and self-organizing as a group could change the current technological foundation in networking for the Internet of Things (IoT). The postage sized stamp devices could act as sensors just like the ones we see in the traditional IoT networks, that could perform the tasks such as mapping or studying earth. Such type of nanosatellites was recently launched by the scientists that were even disposable. The test satellites in batch mounted with just sensors were launched in March. They could be used to capture the data, communication with one another was made easier, and after a couple of days being in the outer atmosphere, they were tested. The satellites were burned as they reentered the atmosphere.
Zac Manchester, an assistant professor at Stanford, added that it’s just like PC revolution for space. Manchester invented the ChipSats ten years ago; however, after a failed attempt during 2014, the team was finally able to make a constellation of Nanosatellites operational just for few days. The team was able to perform different operations; thus, the debate has started will the tiny satellites that are cheaper, tiny can carry out the same tasks performed by larger satellites that are costly. The swarm of satellites could be affordable just about to anyone that wants to put instruments in orbit.
Stanford has used an example, such as studying the migration patterns of birds; this is one of the first use cases that we might be using. However, eventually, even marketers could be using the satellites to study the people. Each of the ChipSat satellite costs $100 to build, and each of the CubeSat dimensions is close to four inches cube. While Chipsets are less than two inches square and are flat with less than a tenth of an inch thick, one of the biggest expenses will be the launch of those satellites, so the team is working developing a specialized Launchpad.
