Luxembourg-based OQ Technology is using satellite IoT technology to monitor forests in Australia as parts of a climate resilience project.

The satellite NTN IoT and D2D pioneer is collaborating with Australian research and sensing partners to support forest monitoring, disaster resilience, carbon markets and scalable remote connectivity.

The project will deploy environmental sensor networks connected through OQ Technology’s low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite NTN IoT infrastructure to enable real-time monitoring of forests and ecosystems in remote or difficult-to-connect areas. The initiative will support improved visibility of ecosystem health, climate stress, biodiversity activity and natural hazard risk in the Greater Blue Mountains region of New South Wales.

While the project is focused initially on forest and ecosystem monitoring, its relevance extends further. It will demonstrate how satellite-enabled sensing can help address a broader national challenge: the need for reliable, scalable and resilient data connectivity across Australia’s remote landscapes, where terrestrial networks may be unavailable, unreliable or vulnerable during extreme events.

Australia’s natural forests and agroforestry sectors face growing pressure from bushfire, drought, flood, biodiversity decline and climate variability. At the same time, commercial forestry, carbon farming and natural capital projects increasingly require trusted measurement, monitoring and verification frameworks to support regulatory compliance, project performance and investor confidence.

The project directly addresses these needs by combining smart sensing, research validation and satellite-enabled communications to support continuous monitoring of tree water stress, soil moisture, microclimate conditions, biodiversity activity, forest health, ecosystem condition, climate and drought stress indicators, and post-fire and extreme-weather recovery.

The Blue Mountains region has experienced severe climate-driven events in recent years, including bushfires and prolonged drought conditions.

The project will also include a fully instrumented monitoring site within Scenic World’s rainforest estate in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

The collaboration provides a pathway from field validation to operational deployment, demonstrating how satellite-connected sensing can support public-sector, commercial and environmental use cases at scale.

The project also supports a hybrid resilience model for remote monitoring. In areas without terrestrial coverage, satellite connectivity can provide primary connectivity. In areas where terrestrial networks exist but may be vulnerable to congestion, outage or extreme events, satellite-enabled sensing can provide an additional layer of operational resilience.

This is particularly relevant for remote forests, farms, natural landscapes and public infrastructure, where monitoring and coordination can be most critical during bushfires, floods, severe weather or other emergency conditions.

“This project demonstrates the growing importance of satellite-enabled IoT infrastructure in addressing some of the world’s most pressing environmental and climate resilience challenges,” said Omar Qaise, CEO of OQ Technology (www.oqtec.com). “Australia is an ideal environment to showcase how satellite communications can support critical monitoring applications in remote and climate-sensitive regions.”

Brendan Choat from Western Sydney University (www.westernsydney.edu.au) added: “Continuous, real-time monitoring of ecosystem stress is becoming increasingly important for forestry, biodiversity conservation, carbon markets and climate adaptation. By integrating advanced sensors with satellite-enabled communications, we can now monitor ecosystems in locations that were previously very difficult to reach or connect.”

The initiative brings together the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN), Western Sydney University, University of NSW (UNSW), the NSW Space Research Network (SRN), Scenic World, Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute and OQ Technology.