Sunset over the Adelaide skyline. Photo: Wikimedia.

South Australian satcom company Myriota will open a $2.72 million Internet of Things (IOT) laboratory in Adelaide to help meet the demand for its technology. The South Australian government’s Future Jobs Fund will match Myriota’s $1.36 million investment to equip the new office.

Myriota’s technology involves tiny satellite transmitters that send low powered messages directly to a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) nanosatellites. These satellites relay the messages to Earth where they are decoded and sent to the end user.

Last September, Myriota announced it was developing a matchbox-sized sensor to track the movement and performance of soldiers on the battlefield in an AU$700,000 ($553,700) deal with the Australian Department of Defense.

Myriota Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alex Grant said the laboratory will allow the company to scale up production and further integrate this technology into more systems.

“Our low-cost IOT system has been deployed in field trials for months now, and there are hundreds of companies here and overseas interested in using our product to provide connectivity for a huge range of applications,” Grant said. “This new IOT lab will enable us to build on our core technology and apply it across a wide range of industries including agriculture, defense, utilities, environmental monitoring, asset tracking and logistics.

Grant said the new lab would create more than 50 new jobs in IT and advanced manufacturing, including highly skilled software and hardware developers, data networking and satellite communications professionals.

According to Grant, Myriota has the potential to undertake production runs of millions of units for export in the coming years.