Designing absence-based monitoring for nodes that lose internet for days — how do you build payloads when bandwidth is measured in bytes?
I've been designing a monitoring system for remote nodes that frequently lose internet connectivity. Most solutions I find assume the node can always phone home — but my use case involves locations where the connection is unreliable for days at a time.
My current thinking: instead of relying on presence-based monitoring ("is it reachable?"), design around absence-based monitoring ("has it checked in within the expected window?"). This means the node needs a secondary channel that operates independently of the primary network.
For that secondary channel, I've been evaluating options that work when primary internet is down. Cellular fails in the same dead zones. LoRa needs local infrastructure. The one option I haven't fully explored is satellite IoT — specifically NTN-type modules designed for low-frequency telemetry.
Has anyone built a heartbeat system around one of these? Curious about the data modeling side — how you design payloads when bandwidth is measured in bytes.