Android Applications Enrich Satcom Terminals Human Interfaces: Three Use Cases

An explosive growth in the use of mobile phones and the enormous capabilities of their graphics interfaces makes them a natural candidate for leveraging them for satellite-based applications and for inter-networking of technologies in the Internet of Things (IoT) scenario. The work presented in this paper combines satellite communication based terminals, networking technologies and mobile software application development on an Android OS environment. We report the implementation of three key Android based applications that have been developed for mobile satellite communication terminals, reception of data from sensors in low power wireless networks through satellite link and GIS-based tracking of mobile assets through satellite link for monitoring and surveillance. The development eliminates the need for an in-built GUI in these devices or a resident processor, leading to significant miniaturization in the terminal size while enhancing convenience in usage.