UDP communication for NTN applications

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a lightweight, connectionless protocol designed for sending small amounts of data efficiently over IP networks.

In NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) deployments, devices typically use NB-IoT, which supports UDP traffic only. Unlike TCP, UDP does not require a connection setup or acknowledgements. Messages are sent in a fire-and-forget manner, making UDP well suited for satellite-based communication where latency is high, bandwidth is limited, and connections may be intermittent.

This guide explains how to send and receive UDP data in NTN scenarios, including:

• Client mode – sending UDP messages from the device to a server

• Server mode – receiving UDP messages on the device from the server

---

Sending UDP payload

To receive data from your NTN device, you need a UDP server with a public IP address.

You can either:

• Use an existing platform that supports UDP ingestion, such as Ubidots (see the Ubidots guide) or,

• Set up your own UDP server for development and testing (see Set up UDP server) This guide focuses on creating a simple UDP server to receive payloads from an NTN device. This approach is ideal for early development, debugging, and validation before integrating with a production backend.

---

Why UDP?

UDP is preferred for NTN communication because it:

• Requires no connection handshake (unlike TCP)

• Has low protocol overhead, reducing airtime and power usage

• Works well with high-latency satellite links

• Is suitable for small, infrequent payloads such as GPS coordinates, temperature readings, or status messages

UDP does not guarantee delivery. Applications must handle retries, duplication, or loss.

Requirements

In order to send satellite data to and from a UDP server, you need:

• A server with a public IP address

• An open UDP port (commonly 9000)

• A listener application to receive and process incoming UDP packets

---

Next steps

• Set up your own UDP server — visit guide

• Send and receive UDP data with the Nordic nRF9151 SiP — visit guide

• Send and receive UDP data with the Murata Type 1SC module — visit guide