We recently converted an internal dashboard for the Helium blockchain to a public tool and the reception/usefulness has been awesome. (For anyone interested -> http://dashboard.helium.com)
Mark from Helium here. Fair point on not publishing designs. You're not the first to bring this up and we have plans to make this a non-issue in the future. Shoot me a note - [email protected] - if you're up for talking further. Any other thoughts / critiques would be most-appreciated.
If you're looking for a sensor platform that will let you quickly deploy a sensor that will run for a few years on a pair of AAs, check out what we're putting together at Helium [1]. We just rolled out the presale of our Helium Atom Development Board [2] which uses the Atom - our drop in connectivity and compute module - as the basis for a sensor development board that is actually fit for production. The OS that runs on the module - cleverly named Helium OS [3] - is the basis for our edge programmability and abstracts the annoying, hard things like battery/power management, wireless, and security. Also OTA upgrades are built in. :)
Very cool. I had heard rumors that Tim was working on this. He did some great work with the NoSQL Tapes [0] a while back. I'm hoping these are of a similar caliber.
Hey Sanddancer, Helium can run without direct access to the internet. It's designed to be a small portable stack. Shoot us a message. Would love to hear about some of your use cases. [email protected]
Hey Madaxe. Helium never has to know the contents of a payload. We encrypt it to keep the information secure, but you can further encrypt that payload via your own requirements with very little effort.
Hey noonespecial,
Just a quick point. The radio is based on 802.15.4 which is an open standard. Much of our end node code is going to be open source, if not all.
Shuank, helium edge routers will have a global footprint to minimize latency to the internet. We always want latency from the internet to helium enabled devices to be as low as possible.
dr,
Can send you data sheet on module. Email [email protected]
- Not sure on 1v8
- SPI / UART
- All module and bridge programming happens OTA
- We have arduinos for making pocs, the module is currently 19x12mm I believe.
- Our next module will have u.fl. (in the works now)
- Network goes in both directions. Access from the internet via ipv6. drFritz.xx.helium.io.
-You can also communicate to other devices. The other device can be anywhere as long as it's on the helium network and you are allowed to speak to it.
Chris very cool. We have a golang driver for helium that will be opened up soon.
The bridges use multiple omnidirectional chip antenna per radio. Each radio also has a u.fl connector so you have choices. Hope to see you sign up for the beta. Would love to see this in action.
There are two things we're trying to convey here (but rest-assured we're not trying to be misleading):
1. We can support a lot of connections. I mean a lot. This is based on our design, but truly limited by the receiving radio.
2. 50 square miles is optimal conditions. It's hard to quantify how bridges and radio enabled devices will work in populated metropolitan areas. These numbers are solely based on field testing, not in metro areas.
There's a whole process to how the secret for each device is created. That secret is used to ensure helium connectivity is safe. You can then securely implant your own secret into a chip we use and that secret can be used to encrypt your payload. Helium never has to know what you are sending. We just need to know where it's going so we can get it there for you.
We'll be posting more docs on this in the coming weeks and months. Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to chat more before they are available.
Congrats to the team. Well-deserved.