Notes on firmware development, hardware design decisions, and field deployment lessons from the ISURLOG project.
Firmware v2.0.3 is out. Two features that have been running in the field under an "Experimental" label graduate to Stable in this release, and digital inputs (GP3/GP4/GP5 on the MCP23008 expander) can now be configured remotely instead of only from a fresh flash.
Satellite connectivity has always meant a trade-off nobody actually wanted to make: either your device lives in cellular coverage, or you pay for it. A dedicated satellite modem alone can cost more than an entire ISURLOG unit does today — before you've added a single sensor, an enclosure, or a battery that survives a season in the field. That cost has quietly drawn a line across the map: everything inside cellular coverage gets real-time IoT, and everything outside it — the forest, the mountain pass, the offshore platform, the pipeline crossing open country — gets a manual visit, or nothing at all.
NTN is the reason that line is starting to move.