IoT
Internet of Things
Internet of Things

Our iocast platform is a wide area network technology for sensors, detectors, and other battery powered nodes, as well as higher performance fixed and mobile data terminals. It is optimized to operate over narrowband radio channels, offering a wider and more reliable area of coverage than ISM approaches, and a deterministic level of performance not possible with cellular solutions.

An Iocast network includes a control stack, along with base transceivers, application servers, and nodes. Each node connects to the network with its embedded node transceiver using the NXI interface. Each application server connects to the network using an API. Once connected, application servers and nodes communicate securely by exchanging datagrams. Together, application servers and their nodes form complete wide-area applications such as asset tracking, sensor networks, or dispatch systems.

Iocast features high reliability, long range, strong encryption, and MAC-layer multicast as well as unicast datagrams. An Iocast system can concurrently support multiple application servers and multiple applications ranging from a few nodes to billions of nodes, with each node running at a different levels of speed and power consumption.

Iocast offers significant benefits where cellular coverage is not reliable, or where NFPA-1221 or similar standards preclude use of cellular networks. Iocast can also deliver a cost advantage over LTE-M where a high node density can be served by a few base transceivers, and practical advantages over NB-IOT where mobility is required.

  • Secure and reliable Land Mobile Radio (LMR) channels
  • Deterministic protocol with synchronous MAC layer
  • Per-node configurable latency and power consumption
  • Bidirectional unicast and multicast datagrams
  • 10-30 mile base transceiver coverage radius
  • Node mobility and secure roaming
  • Node authentication and security using shared-key encryption
  • Over-the-air ("touch free") remote node configuration
  • Hundreds to millions of nodes per base transceiver

Iocast brings much of the toughness and field-proven capability of digital mobile radio into the LPWAN arena, including high reliability, high availability, security, and deterministic performance.

  • Patient Monitoring and Clinical Alarms
  • Public Safety Dispatch and Alerting
  • Public Works and Utilities
  • Fleet Vehicle and Asset Tracking
  • Public Transportation Systems
  • Microtransportation Systems
  • Environmental and Water Monitoring
  • Mining and Pipeline Management
  • Oil Field Monitoring
  • Radiation Monitoring
  • Rail and Shipping Container Tracking
  • Border Control and Security
Block Diagram

An Iocast system consists of a centrally-located Iocast control stack and one or more base transceivers, covering a few hundred to a few thousand square miles. Application servers connect to the control stack using the Iocast API and communicate with their remote nodes by sending and receiving datagrams.

Iocast is a Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, designed to enable communications with low-energy objects such as sensors, monitors, and tracking devices. Iocast is unique in its use of LMR channels but has other benefits such as full bidirectional communications, support for both low-power nodes and low-latency nodes, and MAC-level acknowledged multicast.
The Iocast air protocol is a synchronous, centrally arbitrated physical layer based on dedicated send-receive channels, with a PHY layer similar to that of digital mobile radio. Base transceivers are always on devices that provide coordination, synchronization, and control, while nodes are low-power devices that sleep between packet bursts.
Land Mobile Radio (LMR) channels offer two big advantages. First, the FCC makes this type of channel available to private enterprise on an exclusive basis, at relatively low cost. Second, these channels have a fixed, low noise floor that greatly improves overall system performance. Additionally, narrowband channels generally have other advantages which are generally described here.
For a private system, the FCC maintains several pools of private, wide-area LMR channels available to commercial enterprise for a small filing and coordination fee. To become a service provider, you may need a different kind of license, which varies in cost according to location and geographical size.