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“We are pleased to announce today the availability of the Notecard for Skylo \u2014 a premiere for Blues and the wireless connectivity industry,” says Rob Lauer of Blues about the module that was unveiled this week at Embedded World 2026 in Nuremberg. “With cellular, Wi-Fi, and satellite in a single Notecard design, it is the only module that combines all of these features with bundled data and no monthly fees.”<\/p>\n
Satellite IoT has always faced the same problem: hardware is expensive, subscriptions are painful, and the modules are so large that they require their own project enclosure. Anyone who wanted a tracker that could fall back to a satellite when mobile coverage is unavailable had to count on hardware costs in the hundreds of euros plus $20\u2013$50 in monthly subscription fees per device \u2014 before a single byte had even been transmitted.<\/p>\n
Blues changed the cost balance on the subscription side a few years ago with their Notecard platform. Now they have also solved the hardware problem with the Notecard for Skylo<\/strong> \u2014 and the result is really interesting for anyone developing GPS-tracking products.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Notecard for Skylo (model NOTE-NBGLWX) is a single M.2 module measuring 42 \u00d7 30 mm<\/strong> \u2014 about the size of a large stamp \u2014 and integrates four different connectivity systems in one piece of silicon:<\/p>\n In addition, an LIS2DTW accelerometer<\/strong> is integrated \u2014 crucial for tracker design: the module detects movements autonomously and only activates GPS and radio systems if the device is actually moving. In idle mode it consumes under 8 microamps. That\u2019s the difference between two weeks and six months of battery life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No host microcontroller required for simple tracking.<\/strong> The Notecard for Skylo can autonomously capture and transmit GPS data \u2014 configured with only three JSON commands via USB-C. A host MCU is only needed if custom firmware logic such as geofencing or sensor integration is desired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n The natural reaction to reading about something as small being satellite-capable is skepticism. That\u2019s understandable. Let\u2019s clear it up directly.<\/p>\n Skylo uses geostationary satellites at an altitude of 35,786 km above the equator \u2014 but these satellites carry large, highly sensitive receiving systems. The ground device does not have to be powerful, because the satellite does the heavy lifting on the receiving side. It\u2019s the same principle as GPS: the chip antenna in your smartphone receives signals from satellites 20,000 km away.<\/p>\n Even more important: the modem at the core of this module, the Quectel BG95-S5, was designed from the ground up for 5G NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) \u2014 the 3GPP standard specifically designed to enable satellite communication with small, energy-efficient ground devices. It is not a cellular chip that was retrofitted for satellites. It is purpose-built for it.<\/p>\n The practical constraint: transmission sessions last 2\u201310 minutes rather than milliseconds, the module requires a clear view of the sky toward the equator, and peak current during a satellite transmission reaches 400\u2013600 mA \u2014 hence the LiPo battery is important. But for a GPS tracker that sends a location ping once per hour, these are not obstacles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The question isn\u2019t whether the signal reaches the satellite. The limitation is that you send 50\u2013256 bytes at a time, not stream. For GPS coordinates, that is more than enough.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n This is where it gets interesting for product developers. There is no monthly satellite subscription. The Skylo pricing works like this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A compact GPS payload \u2014 latitude, longitude, accuracy \u2014 fits in under 50 bytes when using the required compact template format of the Notecard. That means: each satellite ping costs exactly $0,0375<\/strong> \u2014 the minimum billing. For a tracker that uses satellite only when truly offline (outside Wi-Fi and cellular coverage), monthly satellite costs in most real-world scenarios are between \u20ac0 and a few euros.<\/p>\n For comparison: traditional Satellite IoT platforms commonly charge $25\u2013$50 per device per month, regardless of usage. The difference is structural: Blues charges only when the satellite is actually used \u2014 and 204 free pings are included in the device purchase.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhat\u2019s behind it<\/h2>\n
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\nWhy the satellite capability is real<\/h2>\n
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The satellite cost structure explained<\/h2>\n
\n\n$0,00075<\/div>\nPer Byte via Satellite<\/div>\nUsage-based, billed monthly<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n$0,0375<\/div>\nMinimum per Ping<\/div>\n50 Byte Minimum \u00d7 $0,00075<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n10 KB<\/div>\nSatellite Volume Included<\/div>\n~204 free pings (50-Byte min.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat it costs in practice per month?<\/h3>\n