nicolsc

Sigfox, Wifi, or else, my recommendation is the same : when you have nothing to say, do nothing :)

In most "connected" devices, you don't need to keep an established connection which will drain the battery fast.

This is why idle consumption is key, as it will often be the state of the solution 99.x% of the time

Simply turn the communication module on when you need it.

Then the difference between solutions consumption-wise will be on time needed to establish connection if any, time & power to send your data.

Working on it! It's a pretty big country ...

So far, you have solid coverage in some metro areas only : SF/North Bay, Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, Houston (Miami & others are getting there)

Check out sigfox.com/coverage to get insights on the current production coverage (Sorry for the colours ...)

I mentioned elsewhere in the thread a beta Sigfox Network Emulator.

Let me know if you could be interested in testing it.

There is a network emulator (USB key), but we're not 100% happy with it. Which is why it's not advertised for sale yet.

But if someone is interested to give it a try in not-yet-covered areas in the US or elsewhere, let me know : [email protected] ; I could mail one for free in exchange of test feedback

———

Hosting a public base station in exchange of discount/free subscriptions is something that could be considered. Again, feel free to reach out :) One thing to consider : Public base station means that other users will rely on it for their own devices, with a need for reliability (uptime, backhaul connectivity, ..)

Sigfox relies on

* Ultra Narrow Band (100Hz) modulation

* Low data rate (100 bits/s in Europe, at 14dBm/25mW) + lightweight protocol

* High receiver sensitivity, mostly SDR based

We've got a few youtube videos explaining this ... but mostly targeted for a generic audience. The "radio signal modulation" may have enough tech details to match what you're looking for : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGvM6KEDIdE&index=6&list=PLc...

We're also working on a publication of a standard UNB IoT protocol, Sigfox being one of its implementations. Should come within a few weeks.

There is a draft about the network architecture here : https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-zuniga-lpwan-sigfox-s...

(Nicolas @Sigfox)

What area are you thinking about ? In western/northern Europe, coverage is already pretty solid nationwide. Agriculture is one of the rising usecase: weather monitoring, soil chemistry, etc... Check sigfox.com/coverage for details about live coverage

As shown on this map, US coverage is mostly in some metro areas right now. But this is just the beginning there.

~~Disclaimer : Sigfox employee ~~

Big on words, but not speaking about others ;)

I'd suggest anyone interested in LPWAN (be it Sigfox, LoraWAN or else) to get its own idea by field testing. Talk is cheap. Sigfox coverage is available in 25 countries, including some large US cities (SF, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, ..) http://www.sigfox.com/coverage

Get in touch if interested by more info about Sigfox, solutions for developers, etc.. http://makers.sigfox.com

Great ! Thanks for sharing @mkarliner :)

TL;DR: The Sigfox Foundation goal is to offer coverage to non profit projects in remote areas & developing countries. Using GPS Trackers from Sensolus, the belgian polar mission is now able to track people & assets around their Princess Elisabeth Station. These trackers have a 3 year lifetime using 3 AA batteries.

Fully agree: most of the IoT solutions are "unsexy" stuff.

It's often painfully hard to explain that the kickstarter-sexy projects are only the tip of the iceberg.

A BLE "smart" waffle machine would surely be fun, and good material for @internetofshit. But while we're looking at useless/gadgets stuff, there are a LOT of useful (or at least midly interesting) things happening in the IoT.

Unsexy doesn't mean old. And IoT doesn't mean "smart device". A dumb sensor sending raw data can bring in a lot of valuable data.

Metering is still a thing, and i see new projects every week in various fields : agriculture, public equipments, healthcare, safety, ... Lot of independent things that don't need to be used by a user, and that you don't especially know they are "connected"

Tongue-in-cheek statements like this are proof that the guardian is still a british news org

In the SF event we'll hand out TI dev kits, Launchpad + CC1120 boosterpack (~ http://www.ti.com/tool/boostxl-cc1120-90)

The Akeru board is still quite expensive (€100), as it's a full Arduino/Genuino board + sigfox module + subscription. And the guy is producing them himself, with small batches. This one is not FCC-ready yet anyway.

Keep in touch for future US-based events !

Maker In Residence — INTERN — @Sigfox. Paris, FR.

Build hardware PoCs showcasing the SIGFOX network. Real use cases, pure R&D, funny stuff .. Whatever.

Using the HW solutions from our partners : Adeunis, Atim, Atmel, Axsem, SiLabs, Telecom Design, Texas Instruments, ...

Skills i'm looking for

* A couple of hw projects references

* ability to do some basic web UI

* not afraid of trying new things

* not too dangerous with a soldering iron in hand

* writing skills

Apply: [email protected] --edited: formatting --

Sigfox-ready chips can be bought from Atmel, Axsem, SiLabs, TI, .. and more : http://makers.sigfox.com/

You should be able to get some Sigfox-enabled TI CC1120 for a few $ easily.

Forgot to add that Sigfox isn't based on TI radios, but is hardware-agnostic. Basically, most sub-GHz radio transceivers are compatible, and it's all about adding the soft stack. Current HW partners include TI, SiLabs, Atmel, Axsem, ..

We'll be using TI HW (Launchpad dev kit) on our SF event on Nov 20 (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smart-city-iot-hackathon-connec...), but we're fully open on the hardware side.

Full list here : http://makers.sigfox.com/

If you're skeptical about LPWAN range claims .. better thing to do is to test :)

We (Sigfox) are running a hackathon in SF on Nov 20th, in partnership with the City. Good occasion to test the live network, and get your hands on a dev kit

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smart-city-iot-hackathon-connec...

More info about Sigfox on http://makers.sigfox.com

Sigfox doesn't have channels per se. Each Sigfox message is concentrated on ~100Hz, with the base stations listening to a 200KHz part of the available spectrum. Regarding interferors, the Ultra Narrow Band technology offers a great resistence: energy concentrated on a tiny width, plus the "random frequency" effect of the sigfox protocol.

Lot of useless gadgets here .. but the Internet of Things is(will be..) much more than consumer-facing objects.

The iceberg analogy never gets old ;)

Industry, Agriculture, Logistics, Cities, etc .. all have a lot to get even more smarter.

Most IoT stuff won't be about pet tracking or fancy BLE devices talking to your smartphone.

Winning the Champions with your fav little club in FM is in now way a waste of time! (Proof : it made you happy)

Seriously, live your life. There is much more to it than reading tech books or whatever career-related stuff. Just do what makes you & your family happy. Keep an healthy balance.