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
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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, ..)
* 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.
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.
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
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"
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.
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, ..
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
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.
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.
The hotness factor is only based on the outcome of the ongoing game. It should also consider the live impact on classification/awards.
Have a look at yesterday's CL game between Paris & Leverkusen : http://www.gambletron2000.com/events/2276/paris-st-g-v-lever..., which was the second of a 2-legs opposition, Paris having won 4-0 on the first one. Which means 99.9% chances of qualifying
It has a _mildly hot_ 762 score, where it should have been between 0 and 10.
As the game was almost meaningless, the fact that Leverkusen scored first before finally losing the game didn't bring any excitation.
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.