Kymeta, during a recent pilot program held throughout Peru, demonstrated the power and importance of its hybrid, one-source connectivity platform. The company, with the help of its partners Intelsat, Cubic Telecom, and Cradlepoint, worked with Airbus to create the SmartBus, an innovative project, in partnership with the World Bank and with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Peru (MTC), which aims to gather data on road safety and other statistics to improve Peru’s transportation while connecting people in difficult geographical areas of Peru.
Buses owned by TEPSA, a pioneering interprovincial bus line, were outfitted with Kymeta satellite terminals that leveraged satellite capacity from Intelsat, cellular coverage from Cubic Telecom, and a software-defined wireless WAN solution from Cradlepoint. This enabled information to be gathered and transmitted in real time across a 742 km route through urban and rural parts of Peru. Kymeta demonstrated a similar solution featuring this unique hybrid network approach during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Utilizing Kymeta’s hybrid satellite-cellular solution, the SmartBus is enabling uninterrupted connectivity in the country’s most rugged and isolated terrain, while gathering and transmitting essential data with unprecedented precision. This will accelerate research into new technologies to provide connectivity to remote areas, along with satellite images provided by the Peruvian Space Agency (CONIDA).
The project will collect information about the state-of-the-road network between Lima and several cities at the edge of the jungle, and enable communications in rural areas, which are easily isolated in the event of a natural disaster. According to Alberto Rodríguez, the Director of the World Bank for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, the project is making a tangible contribution to development by connecting people in an extremely difficult geographical region of Peru. The critical insights unearthed from this trial will be used by research centers, universities and leading technology companies, helping them to identify problems and possible solutions relating to road safety, meteorology and transport logistics.
The SmartBus pilot lays the foundation for a variety of industry applications for Kymeta’s ubiquitous mobile connectivity platform, including commercial agriculture, fleet management, public transportation, and critical access for first responders. Each use case requires uninterrupted connectivity and reliable access, data collection, and communication. Kymeta highlighted the hybrid network solution at MWC using their new satellite and cellular connected vehicle, featuring a fully embedded Kymeta terminal.
Kymeta has also announced the release of its whitepaper, A Hybrid Network Solution for Reliable, Wide-Coverage First Responder Communications. Accidents, disasters, and emergencies often cause physical damage to cell sites or network congestion, inhibiting first responders from access when it’s needed most. The whitepaper highlights two field trials and features the solution for resilient and protected networks, and rapidly deployed infrastructure that can make a difference in life or death.
